LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 






UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



The Temple, 



3ft0 s^inigtrp anti ^ertiices. 



AS THEY WERE 



AT THE TIME OF ^ESUS CHRIST. 
Rev. Dr. 'feDERSHEIM, 

AUTHOJi OF 
" SKETCHES OF JEWISH SOCIAL LIFE AT THE TIME OF CHRIST," ** THE BIBLE HISTORY. 

ETC 



N^vum Testamentum in Vetere latet; Vetus in Novo pateU 



\ 
NEW EDITION — REVISED, >J- '^ 



BOSTON: 
IRA BRADLEY AND CO. 






Copyright, 1881, 

BT 

Ira Bradley & Co. 



PREFACE. 



It has been my wish in this book, to take the reader 
back eighteen centuries ; to show him Jerusalem as it was, 
when our Lord passed through its streets, and the Sanctuary, 
when He taught in its porches and courts ; to portray, not 
only the appearance and structure of the Temple, but to 
describe its ordinances and worshippers, the ministry of its 
priesthood, and the ritual of its services. In so doing, 
I have hoped, not only to illustrate a subject, in itself 
most interesting to the Bible-student, but also, and chiefly, 
to sketch, in one important aspect, the religious life of 
the period in which our blessed Lord lived upon earth, 
the circumstances under which He taught, and the reli- 
gious rites by which He was surrounded ; and whose 
meaning, in their truest sense. He came to fulfil. For, the 
Temple and its services form, so to speak, part of the life and 
work of Jesus Christ ; part also of His teaching, and of that of 
His apostles. What connects itself so closely with Him must 
be of deepest interest. We want to be able, as it were, to 
enter Jerusalem in His train, along with those who on that 
Palm-Sunday cried, " Hosanna to the Son of David ; " to see 
its streets and buildings ; to know exactly how the Temple 



vi Preface. 

looked, and to find our way through its gates, among its 
porches, courts, and chambers ; to be present in spirit at its 
services ; to witness the Morning and the Evening Sacrifice ; 
to mingle with the crowd of worshippers at the great Festivals, 
and to stand by the side of those who offered sacrifice or free- 
will offering, or who awaited the solemn purification which 
would restore them to the fellowship of the Sanctuary. We 
want to j-^^ these rites, as it were, before us — to hear the Temple- 
music, to know the very Psalms that were chanted, the prayers 
that were offered, the duties of the priesthood, the sacrificial 
worship in which they engaged, and the very attitude of the 
worshippers — in short, all those details which in their combina- 
tion enable us vividly to realise the scenes, as if we ourselves 
were present in them. For, amidst them all, we ever see that 
one great outstanding Personality, Whose presence filled that 
houje with glory. Indeed, the New Testament transports us 
intw almost every one of the scenes described in this book. It 
also makes frequent reference to them for illustration. We see 
the father of John ministering in his course in the burning of 
incense ; the Virgin-Mother at her purification, presenting her 
First-born ; the child Jesus among the Rabbis ; the Master 
teaching in the porches of the Temple, sitting in the Treasury, 
attending the various festivals, giving His sanction to the 
purifications by directing the healed leper to the priest, and, 
above all, as at the Feast of Tabernacles, applying to Himself 
the significant rites of the Sanctuary. And, as we follow on, 
we witness the birth of the Church on the day of Pentecost ; 
we mark the frequent illustrations of spiritual realities by 
Temple-scenes, in the writings of the apostles, but more 
especially in the Book of Revelation, whose imagery is so 
often taken from them ; and we still look for the accomplish- 



Preface. vii 

ment of the one yet unfulfilled type — the Feast of Tabernacles, 
as the grand harvest-festival of the Church. 

I have thus placed the permanent Christian interest in the 
foreground, because it occupied that place in my own mind. 
At the same time, from the nature, of the subject, I hope th^ 
volume may fulfil yet another and kindred purpose. Although' 
it does not profess to be a Handbook of Biblical Antiqui- 
ties, nor a treatise on the types of the Old Testament, both 
these subjects had to be constantly referred to. But to realise* 
thegorgeous Temple ritual, in all its details, possesses morn 
than a merely historical interest. We are indeed fascinated b> 
It ; we live over again, if not the period of Israel's tempora\ 
glory, yet that of deepest interest to us ; and we can vividly 
represent to ourselves what the Temple had been before its 
services had for ever passed away. But beyond this, stretch- 
ing far back through the period of prophets and kings,^ and 
reaching up to the original revelation of Jehovah amid vthe 
awful grandeur of Sinai, our holiest recollections, and the very 
springs of our religious life rise among these ordinances and 
types, which we here see fully developed and carried out, and 
that under the very light of His Presence, to Whom they all 
had pointed. I say not, whether or how far later Jewish prac- 
tice may have misapprehended the original import or the 
meaning of the Divine ordinances. That was beyond my 
present task. But an accurate acquaintance with the sacri- 
ficial services at the time of Christ must not only tend to 
correct mistakes, but throw a fresh and vivid light upon all, and 
influence our views of what the Levitical ordinances were 
intended to be and to teach. 

To have thus stated my object in this book, is also to have 
indicated its difficulties. Yet abundant materials for such a 



viii Preface. 

work, though scattered far and wide, are within our reach. Not 
to speak of contemporary writings, as those of Josephus and 
Philo, and references in the New Testament itself, we have in 
the Mishnah a body of authoritative traditions, reaching up, 
not only to Temple-times, but even to the days of Jesus Christ.^ 
On this source of information, of course in conjunction with 
the Old Testament itself, I have been chiefly dependent. 

While thus deriving my materials at first hand, I have also 
thankfully made use of any and every help within my reach. 
Foremost I place here the writings of Maimonides, not only 
because he is of greatest authority among the Jews, but 
because his vast and accurate knowledge of these subjects, 
and the clearness and subtlety of his intellect entitle him 
to that position. Next to him come the numerous writers 
on Biblical Antiquities, in Latin and German ; works on 
Typology — scientific and popular ; treatises on the Life and 
Times of our Lord ;^ histories of the Jewish Nation, or 

1 Quite a different estimate must be formed of the Gemara (which in a general 
way may be described as a twofold commentary — the Jerusalem and Babylonian 
Ge77iara — upon the Mishnah), not only from its much later date, but also from the 
strange and heterogeneous congeries which are found in the many folios of the 
Talmud. Judaism was, at the time of its compilation, already thoroughly ossified • 
and the trustworthiness of tradition greatly impaired not merely by the long in- 
terval of time that had elapsed, but by dogmatic predilections and prejudices, and 
by the not unnatural wish to foist comparatively recent views, practices, and 
prayers upon Temple-times. Indeed, the work wants in its greatest part even the 
local colouring of the Mishnah — an element of such importance in Eastern tradi- 
tions, where, so to speak, the colours are so fast, that, for example, to this day 
the modern Arab designations of places and localities have preserved the original 
Palestinian names, and not those more recent Greek or Roman with which 
successive conquerors had overlaid them. 

^ The comprehensive and eloquent volumes of Dr. Farrar on The Life of Christ 
have only reached me as the last chapters of this book were passing through the 
press, and I could only refer in the Appendix to one question raised by him. But 
Uve reader will readily perceive the various differences between my account of Jewish 



Preface. ix 

of Judaism ; commentaries on such passages in the Old and 
New Testament as bore on these subjects ; and numerous 
treatises on cognate points. In my study of ancient Jerusalem, 
I had the benefit of the labours of recent explorers, from 
Robinson and Barclay to the volumes published under the 
auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund — an undertaking 
which deserves far wider support than it has yet obtained. To 
the Cyclopaedias (Biblical and other) of Winer, Herzog, Ersch 
and Gruber, Dr. Smith, and Kitto (the third edition), I have 
been greatly indebted. The last-named of these works has 
the special merit of a series of articles on Jewish subjects (as I 
may designate them), written in quite an original manner, and 
with most competent knowledge. Although, as will appear 
from the text, I have been obliged frequently to differ 
from their writer, yet these articles must, from the fulness and 
ability of their treatment, be of very great use to the student. 
Lightfoot's Hor(2 Hebraicce et Talmudicce are known to every 
scholar. Not so, perhaps, his small learned treatise De minis- 
terio templi. The title and many of the subjects are similar to 
those treated in the present volume. But the learned reader 
will at once perceive that the plan and execution are quite 
different, though the work has been of great service to me. 
Perhaps I ought not here to omit such names as Relandus, 
Buxtorf, Otho, Schottgen, Meuschen, Goodwin, Hottinger, 
Wagenseil, and Lundius ; and, among modern writers, Bahr, 



observances and that of Dr. Farrar. On one point, however, I must here be 
allowed respectfully to express my sincere regret. The state of the Jewish nation 
at the time of Christ — its spiritual life crushed out under the weight of Pharisa- 
ism, work-righteousness, and service of the letter— was sufficiently sad without 
bringing against the whole people such sweeping charges as those of universal 
greed, avarice, and utter demoralisation, which, I am thankful, are not supported 
by historical evidence. 



X Preface. 

Keil, Kurtz, de Wette, Saalschlitz, Zunz, Jost, Geiger, Herzfeld, 
and Gratz, of whose works I have, I may say, constantly availed 
myself. Many others have been consulted, some of which are 
quoted in the foot-notes, while others are not expressly re- 
ferred to, as not adding anything material to our knowledge. 
In general, I should explain, that I have acted on the principle 
of giving the minimum of references possible. It would have 
been easy to have multiplied them almost indefinitely. But I 
wished to avoid cumbering my pages with an array of autho- 
rities, which too often give a mere appearance of learning ; 
and, while they are not needed by scholars, may tend to 
interfere with the more general and popular use of such a 
work. For a similar reason, I have throughout avoided the 
use of Hebrew and even Greek letter-press. To print an 
expression in Hebrew letters could not be necessary for 
students, while the general reader, whom it too often bewilders 
by a show of knowledge, must in such case necessarily pass 
it over, unnoticed and unknown. 

But, however earnest my endeavours, I cannot but feel that 
this book must in many respects come short of the objects 
I had in view. Amid such variety of details, each requiring 
careful investigation and study, often seemingly quite dispro- 
portionate to the results obtained, I cannot hope to have been 
always accurate. Besides, I am sure that further inquiry will 
still add to the amount of information already possessed. This 
only would I ask the reader to believe, that while this book 
embodies the studies of many years, I have during its actual 
composition deemed no labour nor pains irksome in comparing 
the results of my own investigations with those of all, within 
reach, who were entitled to such consideration. Thus much for 
the matter of the book. As to its form, some subjects may be 



Preface. xi 

touched in it which do not equally interest all readers ; ^ others 
may appear to have been treated with too little or else with 
too much detail ; objections may be raised to interpretations 
of types, or even to the general view of the Old Testament 
which has been taken throughout. My aim has been to make 
the book as complete and generally useful as I could, and 
clearly to express my convictions as to the meaning of the Old 
Testament. But on one point especially I would wish to be 
quite explicit. At the close of these studies, I would say, with 
humble and heartfelt thankfulness, that step by step my 
Christian faith has only been strengthened by them, that, as 
I proceeded, the conviction has always been deepened that 
Christ is indeed "the end of the Law for righteousness," to 
Whom all the ordinances of the Old Testament had pointed, 
and in Whom alone, alike the people and the history of Israel 
find their meaning. Viewed in this light, the Temple-services 
are not so many strange or isolated rites, for the origin of 
which we must look among neighbouring nations, or in the 
tendencies natural to men during the infancy of their history. 
Rather, all now becomes one connected whole — the design 
and execution bearing even stronger evidence to its Divine 
authorship than other of God's works, — where every part fits 
into the other, and each and all point with unswerving stead- 
fastness to Him in Whom the love of God was fully mani- 
fested, and its purposes towards the world entirely carried out. 
From first to last, the two dispensations are substantially one ; 
Jehovah, the God of Israel, is also the God and Father of our 

1 Thus Chaps, i. and ii., which give a description of ancient Jerusalem and of 
the structure and arrangements of the Temple, may not interest some readers, yet 
'it could neither be left out, nor put in a different part of the book. Those for 
wnom this subject has no attractions may, therefore, begin with Chap. iii. 



xii Preface. 

Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ — Novum Testamentum in Vetera 
latet ; Vetus in Novo patet. 

In now sending among readers whom I know not, perhaps 
among critics disposed to watch and try with not friendly 
eyes, what for these years has been really a labour of love to 
me, the constant subject of my studies, and the companion of 
my thoughts, I feel loath, and almost fearful at the parting. 
But, in all humility, I would desire to commend its progress 
to the care of the Master, believing that He will forgive its 
imperfections, and all wherein I have erred or been mistaken, 
and trusting that, however unworthy my service may be, He 
may in some measure make use of it, who needs not our best 
service, and yet condescends to employ even the humblest. 

A. E, ' 



Heniach, Bournemouth, 
\st August^ 1874. 



CONTENTS 



CHAP. tAGE 

I. A First View of Jerusalem and of the Temple • • • i 

II. Within the Holy Place •••••••• 19 

iiL Temple Order, Revenues, and Music • • • • • 33 

IV. The Officiating Priesthood ••«•••• 58 

V, Sacrifices: Their Order and Their Mea^jing « . • 79 
VI. The Burnt-Offering, the Sin- and Trespass- Offering, and 

THE PeACE-OFFERING ........ 96 

viL At Night in the Temple . • • . • . . .112 

VIII. The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice • . • . 124 

IX. Sabbath in the Temple 145 

X. Festive Cycles and Arrangement of the Calendar . .165 

XL The Passover •••••••••• 177 

XII. The Paschal Feast and the Lord's Supper • , . ,196 

Kill. The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Day of 

Pentecost •••••.•••• 215 



xiv Contents. 

CHAP. PAGB 

XIV. The Feast of Tabernacles ...•,,, 232 

XV. The New Moons : the Feast of the Seventh New Moon, 

OR OF Trumpets, or New Year's Day . *. , . 250 

XVI. The Day of Atonement ..•.•.., 263 

XVII. Post-Mosaic Festivals ...•••.. 289 

XVIII. On Purifications. — The Burning of the Red Heifer — 
The Cleansing of the Healed Leper— The Trial of 
the Woman suspected of Adultery .... 301 

XIX. On Vows. — The Nazarite's Vow — The Offering of First- 
fruits IN THE Temple . • . . . . . . 322 

Appendix. — Did the Lord institute His ** Supper" on the 

Paschal Night? , 341 

Analysis of Contents 352 

Index ••^•••••««««. 361 

Index to Scripture References •••••••• 365 



JERUSALEM AT THE TIME OF KING HEROD. 
Sketch showing approximately the lie of rock. 




Foant'? 



Scale 5T5,fe. 
j Herod's Temple. 



1. Temple of Solomon 

2. Palace of Solomon 

3. Added on by Herod 

4. Exhedra (The Tower, Baris or Antonia). 

5. Antonia (The Castle). 

6. Cloisters joining Antonia to Temple 

7. Xystus. 8. Agrippa's Palace. 



9. Zion and Acra. 
10 Lower Pool of Gihon or Amygdalon. 

11. Herod's Palace. 

12. Bethesda or Struthlon. 

13. Bridge built by Herod. 

14. The Lower City called sometimes Akra. 

15. British Cemetery, a.d. 1870. 



\,By permission of the Palestine Exploration Fund* 



THE TEMPLE, 

Its Ministi\y and Sei\yices. 
CHAPTER I. 

A FIRST VIEW OF JERUSALEM, AND OF THE TEMPLE. 

"And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept over it" 

Luke xix. 41. 

IN every age, the memory of Jerusalem has stirred the 
deepest feelings. Jews, Christians, and Mohammedans 
turn to it with reverent affection. It almost seems as 
if in some sense each could call it his ^' happy home," 
the " name ever dear " to him. For our holiest thoughts 
of the past, and our happiest hopes for the future, connect 
themselves with '* the city of our God.'' We know from 
many passages of the Old Testament, but especially from 
the Book of Psalms, with what ardent longing the exiles 
from Palestine looked towards it ; and during the long cen- 
turies of dispersion and cruel persecution, up to this day, 
the same aspirations have breathed in almost every service 
of the synagogue, and in none more earnestly than in' that 
of the paschal night, which to us is for ever associated with 
the death of our Saviour. It is this one grand presence 

B 



2 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

there of " the Desire of all nations," which has for ever 
cast a hallowed light round Jerusalem and the Temple, and 
given fulfilment to the prophecy — "Many people shall go 
and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of 
Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob ; and He will 
teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths : for 
out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah 
from Jerusalem."^ His feet have trodden the busy streets 
of Jerusalem, and the shady recesses of the Mount of Olives ; 
His figure has " filled with glory " the Temple and its ser- 
vices ; His person has given meaning to the land and the 
people ; and the decease which He accomplished at Jeru- 
salem has been for the life of all nations. These facts can 
never be past — they are eternally present ; not only to 
our faith, but also to our hope ; for He '* shall so come in 
like manner " as the " men of Galilee " had on Mount Ohvet 
^^ ^^^xi Him go into heaven.'* 

But our memories of Jerusalem stretch far back beyond 
these scenes. In the distance of a remote antiquity we read of 
Melchisedek, the typical priest-king of Salem, who went out to 
meet Abraham, the ancestor of the Hebrew race, and blessed 
him. A little later, and this same Abraham was coming up 
from Hebron on his mournful journey, to offer up his only 
son. A few miles south of the city, the road by which he 
travelled climbs the top of a high promontory, that juts 
into the deep Kedron valley. From this spot, through the 
cleft of the mountains which the Kedron has made for its 
course, one object rose up straight before him. It was 
Moriah, the mount on which the sacrifice of Isaac was to be 
offered.^ Here Solomon afterwards built the Temple. For 

* Isaiah ii. 3. * Barclay, City of the Great King, p. 58, 



Jerusalem and the Temple. 3 

over Mount Moriah David had seen the hand of the destroy- 
ing angel stayed, probably just above where afterwards from 
the large altar of burnt offering the smoke of countless 
sacrifices rose day by day. On the opposite hill of Zion, 
separated only by a ravine from Moriah, stood the city and 
the palace of David, and close by the site of the Temple 
the tower of David. After that period an ever-shifting 
historical panorama passes before our view, unchanged only 
in this, that, amidst all the varying events, Jerusalem remains 
the one centre of interest and attraction, till we come to 
that Presence which has made it, even in its desolateness, 
" Hephzibah," " sought out," " a city not forsaken."^ 

The Rabbis have a curious conceit about the origin of the 
name Jerusalem, which is commonly taken to mean, *^ the 
foundation," " the abode," or " the inheritance of peace." 
They make it a compound of Jireh and Shalem^ and say 
that Abraham called it " Jehovah-Jireh," while Shem had 
named it Shalem^ but that God combined the two into 
Jireh-Shalem, Jerushalaim, or Jerusalem.* There was cer- 
tainly something peculiar in the choice of Palestine to 
be the country of the chosen people, as well as of Jerusalem 
to be its capital. The political importance of the land must 
be judged from its situation rather than its size. Lying 
midway between the east and the west, and placed between 
the great military monarchies, first of Egypt and Assyria, 
and then of Rome and the East, it naturally became the 
battle-field of the nations and the highway of the world. 
As for Jerusalem, its situation was entirely unique. Pitched 
on a height of about 2,610 feet above the level of the sea, 
its climate was more healthy, equable, and temperate than 

^ Isaiah Ixii. 4. ^ Ber, R, 



4 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

that of any other part of the country. From the top of 
Mount Olivet an unrivalled view of the most interesting 
localities in the land might be obtained. To the east the 
eye would wander over the intervening plains to Jericho, 
mark the tortuous windings of Jordan, and the sullen grey 
of the Dead Sea, finally resting on Pisgah and the mountains 
of Moab and Ammon, To the south, you might see 
beyond " the king's gardens," as far as the grey tops of 
" the hill-country of Judaea/' Westwards, the view would 
be arrested by the mountains, of Bether} whilst the haze in 
the distant horizon marked the line of the Great Sea. To the 
north, such well-known localities met the eye as Mizpeh, 
Gibeon, Ajalon, Michmash, Ramah, and Anathoth. But, 
above all, just at your feet, the Holy City would lie in all 
her magnificence, like " a bride adorned for her husband." 

** Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is 
Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the Great 

King Walk about Zion, and go round about her : 

tell the towers thereof Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider 
her palaces." If this could be said of Jerusalem even in 
the humbler days of her native monarchy,^ it was emphati- 
cally true at the time when Jesus " beheld the city," after 
Herod the Great had adorned it with his wonted splendour. 
As the pilgrim bands "came up" from all parts of the 
country to the great feasts, they must have stood enthralled 
when its beauty first burst upon their gaze.^ Not merely 
remembrances of the past, or the sacred associations con- 

1 Song of Solomon ii. 17. 

^ Psalm xlviii. 2, 12, 13. The psalm was probably written during the reign of 
Jehoshaphat. 

2 See the ** Songs of Degrees," or rather ** Psalms of Ascent" (to the feasts), 
Bpecially Psalm cxxii. 



Jerusalem and the Temple. 5 

nected with the present, but the grandeur of the scene 
before them must have kindled their admiration into 
• enthusiasm. For Jerusalem was a city of palaces, and 
right royally enthroned as none other. Placed on an 
eminence higher than the immediate neighbourhood, it was 
cut off and isolated by deep valleys on all sides but one, 
giving it the appearance of an immense natural fortress. 
All round it, on three sides, like a natural fosse, ran the 
deep ravines of the Valley of Hinnom and of the Black 
Valley, or Kedron, which merged to the south of the city, 
descending in such steep declivity that where the two meet 
is 670 feet below the point whence each had started/ Only 
on the north-west was the city, as it were, bound to the main- 
land. And as if to give it yet more the character of a series 
of fortress-islands, a deep natural cleft — the Tyropceon — ran 
south and north right through the middle of the city, then 
turned sharply westwards, separating Mount Zion from Mount 
Acra. Similarly, Acra was divided from Mount Moriah, and 
the latter again by an artificial valley from Bezetha, or the 
New Town. Sheer up from these encircling ravines rose the 
city of marble and cedar-covered palaces. Up that middle 
cleft, down in the valley, and along the slopes of the hills, crept 
the busy town, with its streets, markets, and bazaars. But 
alone, and isolated in its grandeur, stood the Temple Mount. 
Terrace upon terrace its courts rose, till, high above the city, 
within the enclosure of marble cloisters, cedar-roofed and 
richly ornamented, the Temple itself stood out a mass of 
snowy marble and of gold, glittering in the sunlight against 

^ In fact, the valley of Hinnom and the glen of Kedion were really one. For 
this and other topographical details the reader is referred to The Recovery of 
Jerusalem^ by Capts. Wilson and Warren, R.E, 



6 The Temple, its Mmistry and Services. 

the half-encircling green background of Olivet. In all his 
wanderings the Jew had not seen a city like his own 
Jerusalem. Not Antioch in Asia, not even imperial Rome 
herself, excelled it in architectural splendour. Nor has there 
been, either in ancient or modern times, a sacred building 
equal to the Temple, whether for situation or magnificence ; 
nor yet have there been festive throngs like those joyous 
hundreds of thousands who, with their hymns of praise, 
crowded towards the city on the eve of a Passover. No 
wonder that the song burst from the lips of those pilgrims : 

** Still stand our feet 

Within thy gates, Jerusalem ! 
Jerusalem, ah ! thou art built 
As a city joined companion-like together.*** 

From whatever side the pilgrim might approach the city, 
the first impression must have been solemn and deep. But 
a special surprise awaited those who came, whether from 
Jericho or from Galilee, by the well-known road that led 
over the Mount of Olives. From the south, beyond royal 
Bethlehem — from the w^est, descending over the heights of 
Beth-horon — or from the north, journeying along the moun- 
tains of Ephraim, they would have seen the city first vaguely 
looming in the grey distance, till, gradually approaching, they 
had become familiar with its outlines. It was far otherwise 
from the east A turn in the road, and the city, hitherto 
entirely hid from view, would burst upon them suddenly, 
closely, and to most marked advantage. It was by this 
road Jesus made His triumphal entry from Bethany on the 

^ Psalm cxxii. 2, 3. The allusion is to the various hills which, ' * like companions," 
are joined together to form ** the city," 



jferusalem and the Temple. 7 

week of His Passion.^ Up from "the house of dates" the 
broad, rough road wound round the shoulder of Olivet 
Thither the wondering crowd from Bethany followed Him, 
and there the praising multitude from the city met Him. 
They had come up that same Olivet, so familiar to them all. 
For did it not seem almost to form part of the city itself, 
shutting it off like a screen from the desert land that 
descended beyond to Jordan and the Dead Sea ? 

From the Temple Mount to the western base of Olivet, it 
was not more than lOO or 200 yards straight across, though, 
of course, the distance to the summit was much greater, say 
about half a mile. By the nearest pathway it was only 918 
yards from the city gate to the principal summit.^ Olivet 
was always fresh and green, even in earliest spring or during 
parched summer — the coolest, the pleasantest, the most 
sheltered w^alk about Jerusalem. For across this road the 
Temple and its mountain flung their broad shadows, and 
luxuriant foliage spread a leafy canopy overhead. They 
w^ere not gardens, in the ordinary Western sense, through 
which one passed, far less orchards ; but something peculiar 
to those climes, where Nature everywhere strews with lavish 
hand her flowers, and makes her gardens — where the garden 
bursts into the orchard, and the orchard stretches into the 
field, till, high up, olive and fig mingle with the darker 
cypress and pine. The stony road up Olivet wound along 
terraces covered with olives, whose silver and dark green 
leaves rustled in the breeze. Here gigantic gnarled fig- 

^ See the glowing description in Stanley's Sinai and Palestine, 
2 ** By the longer footpath it is 1,310 yards, and by the main camel road perhaps 
a little farther." Josephus calculates the distance from the city evidently to the top 
of Mount Olivet at 1,010 yards, or 5 furlongs. See City of the Great King^ p. 59. 



8 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

trees twisted themselves out of rocky soil ; there clusters 
of palms raised their knotty stems high up into waving 
plumed tufts, or spread, bush-like, from the ground, the 
rich-coloured fruit bursting in clusters from the pod. Then 
there were groves of myrtle, pines, tall, stately cypresses, 
and on the summit itself two gigantic cedars. To these 
shady retreats the inhabitants would often come from Jeru- 
salem to take pleasure or to meditate, and there one of 
their most celebrated Rabbis was at one time wont in pre- 
ference to teach/ Thither, also, Christ with His disciples 
often resorted. 

Coming from Bethany the city would be for some time 
completely hidden from view by the intervening ridge of 
Olivet. But a sudden turn of the road, where '' the descent 
of the Mount of Olives " begins, all at once a first glimpse 
of Jerusalem is caught, and that quite close at hand. True, 
the configuration of Olivet on the right would still hide 
the Temple and most part of the city ; but across Ophel, 
the busy suburb of the priests, the eye might range to 
Mount Zion, and rapidly climb its height to where Herod's 
palace covered the site once occupied by that of David. A 
few intervening steps of descent, where the view of the city 
has again been lost, and the pilgrim would hurry on to 
that ledge of rock. What a panorama over which to roam 
with hungry eagerness ! At one glance he would see before 
him the whole city — its valleys and hills, its walls and towers, 
its palaces and streets, and its magnificent Temple — almost 
like a vision from another world. There could be no difficulty 
in making out the general features of the scene. Altogether 

^ R. Jochanan ben Saccai, who was at the head of the Sanhedrim immedi?wtely 
before and after the destruction of Jemsaiem. 



yerusalem and the Te7nple. 9 

the city was only thirty-three stadia, or about four English 
miles, in circumference. Within this compass dwelt a 
population of 600,000 (according to Tacitus), but, according 
to the Jewish historian, amounting at the time of the Pass- 
over to between two and three millions, or about equal to 
that of London.^ 

The first feature to attract attention would be the 
city walls, at the time of Christ only two in number.^ 
The first, or old wall, began at the north-western angle of 
Zion, at the tower of HippicuSy and ran along the northern 
brow of Zion, where it crossed the cleft, and joined the 
western colonnade of the Temple at the '^ Council-house.'* 
It also enclosed Zion along the west and the south, and 
was continued eastward around Ophel, till it merged in the 
south-eastern angle of the Temple. Thus the first w^all 
would defend Zion, Ophel, and, along with the Temple walls, 
Moriah also. The second wall, which commenced at a gate 
in the first wall, called *^ Gennath," ran first north, and then 
east, so as to enclose Acra, and terminated at the Tower 

^ Mr. Fergusson, in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible^ i. p. 1025, controverts 
these numbers, on the ground of the population of modern cities within a given 
area. But two millions represent not the ordinary population,- only the festive 
throngs at the Passover. Taking into consideration Eastern habits — the sleeping 
on the roof, and possibly the camping out — the computation is not extravagant. 
Besides, however untruthful Josephus was, he may, as a general rule, be trusted 
where official numbers, capable of verification, are concerned. In fact, taking 
into account this extraordinary influx, the Rabbis distinctly state, that during the 
feasts — except on the first night — the people might camp outside Jerusalem, but 
within the limits of a sabbath-day's journey. This, as Otho well remarks {Lex, 
Rabb. p. 195), also explains how, on such occasions, our Lord so often retired to 
the Mount of Olives. 

2 The third, largest, and strongest v/all, which enclosed Bezetha^ or the New 
Town, was built by Herod Agrippa, twelve years after the date of the 
crucifixion. 



lO The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

of Antonia. Thus the whole of the old city and the 
Temple were sufficiently protected. 

The Tower of Antonia was placed at the north-western 
angle of the Temple, midway between the castle of the 
same name and the Temple. With the former it com- 
municated by a double set of cloisters, with the latter by 
a subterranean passage into the Temple itself, and also by 
cloisters and stairs descending into the northern and the 
western porches of the Court of the Gentiles. Some of the 
most glorious traditions in Jewish history were connected 
with this castle, for there had been the ancient " armoury 
of David," the palace of Hezekiah and of Nehemiah, and 
the fortress of the Maccabees. But in the days of Christ 
Antonia was occupied by a hated Roman garrison, which 
kept watch over Israel, even in its sanctuary. In fact, the 
Tower of Antonia overlooked and commanded the Temple, 
so that a detachment of soldiers could at any time rush 
down to quell a riot, as on the occasion when the Jews 
had almost killed Paul.^ The city walls were further 
defended by towers — sixty in the first, and forty in the 
second wall. Most prominent among them were Hippicus, 
Phasaelus, and Mariamne, close by each other, to the 
north-west of Zion — all compactly built of immense marble 
blocks, square, strongly fortified, and surmounted by build- 
ings defended by battlements and turrets.^ They were 
built by Herod, and named after the friend and the brother 
he had lost in battle, and the wife whom his jealousy had 
killed. 

If the pilgrim scanned the city more closely he would 
observe that it was built on four hills. Of these, the 
1 Acts xxi. 31. 2 jTor particulars of these forts, see Josephus's Wars^ v. 4, 3. 



yerusalem and the Temple. ii 

western, or ancient Zion, was the highest, rising about 200 feet 
above Moriah, though still 100 feet lower than the Mount of 
Olives. To the north and the east, opposite Zion, and divided 
from it by the deep Tyropoeon Valley, were the crescent-shaped 
Acra and Moriah, the latter with Ophel as its southern out- 
runner. Up and down the slopes of Acra the Lower City 
crept. Finally, the fourth hill, Bezetha (from bezaio7iy marshy 
ground), the New Town, rose north of the Temple Mount 
and of Acra, and was separated from them by an artificial 
valley. The streets, which, as in all Eastern cities, were nar- 
row, were paved with white marble. A somewhat elevated 
footway ran along for the use of those who had newly been 
purified in the Temple, while the rest walked in the roadway 
below. The streets derived their names mostly from the gates 
to which they led, or from the various bazaars. Thus there 
were ** Water-street," " Fish-street," " East-street," etc. The 
** Timber Bazaar " and that of the " Tailors " were in*the New 
City ; the Grand Upper Market on Mount Zion. Then there 
were the " Wool " and the *' Braziers' Bazaar ;" " Baker-street," 
** Butcher-street," " Strangers'-street," and many others simi- 
larly named. Nor would it have been difficult to identify the 
most prominent buildings in the city. At the north-western 
angle of Mount Zion, the ancient Salem and Jebus, on the site of 
the castle of David, was the grand palace of Herod, generally 
occupied by the Roman procurators during their temporary 
sojourn in Jerusalem. It stood high up, just within shelter 
of the great towers which Herod had reared — a marvel of 
splendour, of whose extent, strength, height, rooms, towers, 
roofs, porticoes, courts, and adjacent gardens Josephus speaks 
in such terms of admiration. 

At the opposite, or north-eastern corner of Mount Zion, was 



12 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

the palace of the High Priest. Being built on the slope of the 
hill, there was under the principal apartments a lower story, 
with a porch in front, so that we can understand how on that 
eventful night Peter was '' beneath in the palace."^ Beyond it, 
probably on the slope of Acra, was the Repository of the 
Archives, and on the other side of the cleft, abutting on the 
Temple, with which it was probably connected by a colon- 
nade, the Council Chamber of the Sanhedrim. Following the 
eastern brow of Mount Zion, south of the High Priest's palace, 
and opposite the Temple, was the immense Xystus, which 
probably extended into the Tyropoeon. Whatever may have 
been its original purpose,^ it was afterwards used as a place 
of public meetings, where, on great occasions, the populace 
was harangued. Here Peter probably addressed the three 
thousand converts on the day of Pentecost when the multitude 
had hurried thither from the Temple on hearing "the mighty 
rushing sound." The Xystus was surrounded by a covered 
colonnade. Behind it was the palace of Agrippa, the ancient 
palace of David and of the Maccabees, and again, in the rear 
of it, that of Bernice. On Acra stood afterwards the palaces 
of certain foreign princes, such as those of Queen Helena, 
King Monobasus, and other proselytes. In this quarter, 
or even beyond it to the north-west, one would naturally 
look for the Theatre and the Amphitheatre, which, being so 
essentially un-Jewish, must have been located as far as pos- 
sible from the Temple. The space around the Temple was 
no doubt kept clear of buildings. On the south-eastern 
corner behind it was the great Sheep Market, and to the south 

^ Mark xiv. 66. 

2 Barclay suggests that the Xystus had originally been the heathen gymnasium 
built by the infamous high-priest Jason {City of the Great Kittg, p. loi). 



Jerusalem and the Temple. 13 

of it the Hippodrome. Originally, "the king's house by 
the horse-gate/' built by Solomon, and the royal stables, had 
occupied the southern area of the Temple Mount, where 
Herod after^vards built the '' Royal Porch." For the Temple 
of Solomon was 300 feet shorter, from north to souih, than 
that of Herod. Transversely, between Xystus and the Fish 
Gate, lay the quarter of Maktesh^" occupied by various 
bazaars, chiefly connected with the Temple. Lastly, south 
of the Temple, but on the same hill, was Ophel^ the crowded 
suburb of the priests. 

In this hasty survey of the city no notice has been taken 
t)f the magnificent monuments and pillars erected in various 
parts of Jerusalem, nor of its synagogues, of which tradition 
fixes the number at from 460 to 480 ; nor of many public 
buildings ; nor yet of such sacred spots as the Pool of 
Siloam, or that of Bethesda, on which the memory loves 
to dwell. In sharp contrast to all this beauty and mag- 
nificence must have been the great walls and towers, and 
the detached forts, which guarded either the Temple or access 
to the various hills on which the city rose, such as Millo, 
Ophel, and others. Of these the highest and strongest was 
the L-shaped Tower of Antonia, which rose to a height of 105 
feet, being itself reared on a rock 75 feet high. Indeed, the 
towers and the castle of Antonia, with its squares, out- 
buildings, and colonnades, must have looked almost like a 
small town, on its rocky height. Beyond the city, numerous 
large gates opened everywhere into the country, upon the 
slopes and crests of hills covered by delicious gardens and 
dotted with beautiful villas. 

Such must have been a first view of Jerusalem, as *' beheld " 

1 Zeph. i. 10, II, 



14 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

from the Mount of Olives, on which we are supposed to have 
taken our stand. If Jewish tradition on the subject may 
be trusted, a gate opened upon this Mount of OHves through 
the eastern wall of the Temple.^ It is called " the Shushan 
Gate," from the sculptured representation over it of the city 
to which so many Jewish memories attached. From this gate 
an arched roadway, by which the priests brought out the 
** red heifer," and on the Day of Atonement the scapegoat, 
is said to have conducted to the Mount of Olives. Near the 
spot where the red heifer was burned were extensive lava- 
tories, and booths for the sale of articles needed for various 
purifications. Up a crest, on one of the most commanding 
elevations, was the Lunar Station, whence, by fire signals, 
the advent of each new moon was telegraphed from hill to 
hill into far countries. If Jewish tradition may further be 
trusted, there was also an unused gate in the Temple towards 
the north — Tedi or Tere — and two gates towards the south. 
We know for certain of only a subterranean passage which 
led from the fortress Antonia on the " north-western angle " 
of the Temple into the Temple Court, and of the cloisters with 
stairs descending into the porches, by one of which the chief 
captain Lysias rushed to the rescue of Paul when nearly killed 
by the infuriated multitude. Dismissing all doubtful ques- 
tions, we are sure that at any rate five gates opened into 
the outer Temple enclosure or Court of the Gentiles — one 
from the south, and four — and these the principal — from the 
west. That southern gate was double, and must have 
chiefly served the convenience of the priests. Coming from 
Ophel, they would pass through its gigantic archway and 

^ In the chamber above this gate two standard measures were kept, avowedly 
for the use of the workmen employed in the Temple, {Chel. xvii. 9.) 



yerusalem and the Temple. 15 

vestibule (40 feet each way), and then by a double tunnel 
nearly 200 feet long, whence they emerged at a flight of steps 
leading straight up from the Court of the Gentiles into that of 
the priests, close to the spot where they would officiate/ 

But to join the great crowd of worshippers we have 
to enter the city itself. Turning our back on Mount Zion 
we now face eastwards to Mount Moriah. Though we 
look towards the four principal entrances to the Temple, 
yet what we see within those walls on the highest of the 
terraces is not the front but the back of the sanctuary. 
It is curious how tradition is here in the most palpable error 
in turning to the east in worship. The Holy Place itself faced 
eastwards, and was approached from the east ; but most 
assuredly the ministering priests and the worshippers looked 
not towards the east but towards the west. 

The Temple plateau had been artificially levelled at immense 
labour and cost, and enlarged by gigantic substructures. The 
latter served also partly for the purpose of purification, as 
otherwise there might have been some dead body beneath, 
which, however great the distance from the surface, would, 
unless air had intervened, have, according to tradition, defiled 
the whole place above. As enlarged by Herod the Great, 
the Temple area occupied an elongated square of from 925 to 
950 feet and upwards.^ Roughly calculating it at about 1,000 

1 Jewish tradition mentions the following five as the outer gates of the Temple : 
that oi Shushan to the east, of Tedi to the north, of Copponus to the west, and the 
two Hiddah gates to the south. The Shushan gate was said to have been lower 
than the others, so that the priests at the end of the "heifer-bridge " might look over 
it into the Temple. In a chamber above the Shushan gate, the standard measures 
of the " cubit " were kept. 

2 Many modem writers have computed the Temple area at only 606 feet, while 
Jewish authorities make it much larger than we have stated it. The compulation 



t6 The Templey its Ministry and Services. 

feet, this would give an extent more than one-half greater 
than the length of St. Peter's at Rome, which measures 613 feet, 
and nearly double our own St. Paul's, whose extreme length 
is 520^ feet. And then we must bear in mind that the Temple 
plateau was not merely about 1,000 feet in length, but a square 
of nearly 1,000 feet ! It was not, however, in the centre of this 
square, but towards the north-west, that the Temple itself 
and its special courts were placed. Nor, as already hinted, 
were they all on a level, but rose terrace upon terrace, 
till the sacred edifice itself was reached, its porch protrud- 
ing, *' shoulder-Hke," on either side — perhaps rising into two 
flanking towers — and covering the Holy and Most Holy 
Places. Thus must the *^ golden fane '^ have been clearly 
visible from all parts ; the smoke of its sacrifices slowly curl- 
ing up against the blue eastern sky, and the music . of its 
services wafted across the busy city, while the sunlight glittered 
on its gilt roofs, or shone from its pavement of tesselated 
marble, or threw great shadows on Olivet behind. 

Assuredly, when the Rabbis thought of their city in her 
glory, they might well say : '* The world is like unto an eye. 
The ocean surrounding the world is the white of the eye ; 
its black is the world itself; the pupil is Jerusalem ; but the 
image within the pupil is the sanctuary." In their sorrow and 
loneliness they have written many fabled things of Jerusalem, 
of which some may here find a place, to show with what 
halo of reverence they surrounded the loving memories of the 
past. Jerusalem, they say, belonged to no tribe in par- 
ticular — it was all Israel's. And this is in great measure 
literally true ; for even afterwards, when ancient Jebus 

in the text is based on the latest and most trustworthy investigations, and fully 
borne out by the excavations made on the spot by Capts. Wilson and Warren. 



Jerusalem and the Temple. 17 

became the capital of the land, the boundary line between 
Judah and Benjamin ran right through the middle of the 
city and of the Temple ; so that, according to Jewish 
tradition, the porch and the sanctuary itself were in Benjamin, 
and the Temple courts and altar in Judah. In Jeru- 
salem no house might be hired. The houses belonged as 
it were to all ; for they must all be thrown open, in freev. 
hearted hospitality, to the pilgrim-brethren that came up 
to the feast. Never had any one failed to find in Jerusalem 
the means of celebrating the paschal festivities, nor yet 
had any lacked a bed on which to rest. Never did serpent 
or scorpion hurt within her precincts ; never did fire desolate 
her streets, nor ruin occur. No ban ever rested on the 
Holy City. It was Levitically more sacred than other 
cities, since there alone the paschal lamb, the thank-offer- 
ings, and the second tithes might be eaten. Hence they 
carefully guarded against all possibility of pollution. No 
dead body might remain in the city overnight ; no sepul- 
chres were there, except those of the house of David and 
of the prophetess Huldah. Not even domestic fowls might 
be kept, nor vegetable gardens be planted, lest the smell of 
decaying vegetation should defile the air ; nor yet furnaces 
be built, for fear of smoke. Never had adverse accident 
interrupted the services of the sanctuary, nor profaned 
the offerings. Never had rain extinguished the fire on 
the altar, nor contrary wind driven back the smoke of the 
sacrifices ; nor yet, however great the crowd of worshippers, 
had any failed for room to bow down and worship the 
God of Israel ! 

Thus far the Rabbis. All the more impressive is their 
own admission and their lament — so significant as viewed 



iS The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

in the light of the Gospel: '' For three years and a-half 
abode the Shechinah" (or visible Divine presence) '^on the 
Mount of Olives," — waiting whether Israel would repent — 
" and calling upon them, ' Seek ye the Lord while He 
may be found, call upon Him while He is near.* And 
when all was in vain, then the Shechinah returned to its 
own place ! " 

The Shechinah has withdrawn to its own place ! Both 
the city and the Temple have been laid '' even with the 
ground," because Jerusalem knew not the time of her 
visitation.^ ''They have laid Jerusalem on heaps."^ ''The 
stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every 
street."^ All this, and much more, did the Saviour, the right- 
ful King of Israel, see in the near future, when " He beheld 
the city and wept over it." And now we must search very 
deep down, sinking the shaft from 60 to over 125 feet through 
the rubbish of accumulated ruins, before reaching at last 
the ancient foundations.^ And there, close by where once the 
royal bridge spanned the deep chasm and led from the city 
of David into the royal porch of the Temple, is "the Jews* 
Wailing Place," where the. mourning heirs to all this deso- 
lation reverently embrace the fallen stones, and weep unavail- 
ing tears — unavailing because the present is as the past, and 
because what brought that judgment and sorrow is unrecog- 
nised, unrepented, unremoved. Yet — "Watchman, what of 
the night } Watchman, what of the night } The watch- 
man said. The morning cometh, and also the night. If 
ye will inquire, inquire ! Return, come ! " 

* Luke xix. 44. 2 psalm Ixxix. i. ^ Lament iv. Ir 

* Recovery of Jerusalem^ p. 1 85. 



CHAPTER II. 

WITHIN THE HOLY PLACE, 

**There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown 
down." — Matthew xxiv. 2. 

OF the four principal entrances into the Temple — all of 
them from the west — the most northerly descended, 
perhaps by flights of steps, into the Lower City ; while two 
others led into the suburb, or Parbar^ as it is called. But 
by far the most magnificent avenue was that at the south- 
western angle of the Temple. Probably this was *' the 
ascent . . . into the house of the Lord,'' which so astounded 
the Queen of Sheba.^ It would, indeed, be difficult to 
exaggerate the splendour of this approach. A colossal 
bridge on arches spanned the intervening Valley of the 
Tyropoeon, connecting the ancient City of David with what 
is called the " Royal Porch of the Temple." From its ruins 
we can reconstruct this bridge. Each arch spanned 41 J feet, 
and the spring-stones measured 24 feet in length by 6 in 
thickness. It is almost impossible to realise these pro- 

^ I Kings X. 5. According to Mr. Lewin, however {Siege of Jerusalem^ p. 270}, 
this celebrated '*ascent" to the houseof the Lord went up by a double subterranean 
passage, 250 feet long and 62 feet wide, by a flight of steps from the nev/ palace 
of Solomon, afterwards occupied by the ** Royal Porch," right into the inner 
court of the Temple. 



20 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

portions, except by a comparison with other buildings. A 
single stone 24 feet long ! Yet these were by no means 
the largest in the masonry of the Temple. Both at the 
south-eastern and the south-western angles stones have been 
found measuring from 20 to 40 feet in length, and weighing 
above 100 tons. 

The view from this ^' Royal Bridge *' must have been 
splendid. It was over it that they led the Saviour, in sight 
of all Jerusalem, to and from the palace of the high-priest, 
that of Herod, the meeting-place of the Sanhedrim, and the 
judgment-seat of Pilate. Here the city would have lain 
spread before us like a map. Beyond it the eye would wander 
over straggling suburbs, orchards, and many gardens — fairest 
among them the royal gardens to the south, the ** garden 
of roses," so celebrated by the Rabbis — till the horizon 
was bounded by the hazy outhne of mountains in the dis- 
tance. Over the parapet of the bridge we might have 
looked into the Tyropoeon Valley below, a depth of not 
less than 225 feet. The roadway which spanned this cleft 
for a distance of 354 feet, from Mount Moriah to Mount 
Zion opposite, was 50 feet broad, that is, about 5 feet wider 
than the central avenue of the Royal Temple-Porch into 
which it led. These *' porches,'' as they are called in the 
New Testament, or cloisters, were among the finest archi- 
tectural features of the Temple. They ran all round the 
inside of its wall, and bounded the outer enclosure of the 
Court of the Gentiles. They consisted of double rows of 
Corinthian pillars, all rrionoliths, wholly cut out of one 
block of marble, each pillar being 37^ feet high. A flat 
roof, richly ornamented, rested against the wall, in which 
also the outer row of pillars was inserted. Possibly there 



Witfiin the Holy Place. 2t 

may have been towers^ where one colonnade joined the 
other. But the '* Roya*l Porch/' by which we are supposed 
to have entered the Temple, was the most splendid, consisting 
not as the others, of a double, but of a trei?/e colonnade, 
formed of 162 pillars, ranged in four rows of 40 pillars each, 
the two odd pillars serving as a kind of screen, where the 
"Porch" opened upon the bridge. Indeed, we may regard 
the Royal Porch as consisting of a central nave 45 feet wide, 
with gigantic pillars lOO feet high, and of two aisles 30 feet 
wide, with pillars 50 feet high.^ By very competent 
authorities this Royal Porch, as its name indicates, is 
regarded as occupying the site of the ancient palace of 
Solomon, to which he " brought up " the daughter of Pharaoh. 
Here also had been the "stables of Solomon." When Herod 
the Great rebuilt the Temple, he incorporated with it this 
site of the ancient rcf^al palace. What the splendour and 
height^ of this one porch in the Temple must have been is 
best expressed in the words of Captain Wilson :^ "It is 
almost impossible to realise the effect which would be pro- 
duced by a building longer and higher than York Cathedral, 
standing on a solid mass of masonry almost equal in height 
to the tallest of our church spires." And this was only one of 
the porches which formed the southern enclosure of the first 
and outermost court of the Temple — that of the Gentiles. 
The view from the top of this colonnade into Kedron was to 
the stupendous depth of 450 feet. Here some have placed 
that pinnacle of the Temple to which the tempter brought 
our Saviour. 

^ The suggestion is that of Dr. Barclay, in his City of the Great King^ 
2 Mr. Fergusson, in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. iii. p. I462, 

* Professor Porter has calculated it at 440 feet. 

* Recovery of Jerusaletn, p. 9. 



22 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

These halls or porches around the Court of the Gentiles 
must have been most convenient places for friendly or 
religious intercourse — for meetings or discussions.^ Here 
Jesus, when still a child, was found by His parents dis- 
puting with the doctors ; here He afterwards so often taught 
the people ; and here the first assemblies of the Christians 
must have taken place when, *' continuing daily with one 
accord in the Temple, . . . praising God, and having favour 
with all the people, . . . the Lord added to the church 
daily such as should be saved." Especially do we revert to 
Solomon's Porch, that ran along the eastern wall of the 
Temple, and faced its great entrance. It was the only 
remnant left of the Temple built by the wise king of Israel. 
In this porch '* Jesus walked *' on that '* feast of the dedi- 
cation,"^ when He "told it plainly," "I and my Father 
are one ;" and it was thither *'that all the people ran 
together " when " the notable miracle " on the lame man 
had been wrought at the " Beautiful Gate of the Temple." 

It was the rule when entering the Temple to pass in by 
the right, and when leaving it to go out by the left hand. 
The great Court of the Gentiles,* which formed the lowest 
or outer enclosure of the Sanctuary, was paved with the 
finest variegated marble. According to Jewish tradition, it 
formed a square of 750 feet. Its name is derived from the 
fact that it was open to all — Jews or Gentiles — provided 
they observed the prescribed rules of decorum and rever- 
ence. In this court tradition places eating and sleeping 

^ According to Succ, iv. I, benches or seats were placed there. 

^ John X. 23. 
' ' We have adopted this name as in common use, though Relandus (Aittiq, 
p. 78) rightly objects that the only term for it used in Jewish writings is the 
•'mountain of the house." 



PLAN OF THE TEMPLE. 



ji. 






M 



ENTRANCE TO ANTONIA 



^-^^^^■-'Yi-^rt^fr^/^^^^^^^^ 



^ ^ 



g 



^^^P" ^ 



D D 



I ' O I, I J 9000U ■'O O Q t 




COURT OF THE GENTILES. 



PM^JEK &Y , ^HH _.g tCHT. 






.*>>• 



/ 



.0. 

•o; 

;o; \ 

\J, 
•0- 



ROYAL PORCH 



y</................../../.../../...X...^^^^ 



OPHEL CATC 



A. Royal Tyropoeon Bridge. 

B 8. etc Terrace, or Chel, outside of which tradi- 
tion places a low enclosure, called the Soreg. 

C C c. South Side Gates, the second on the right 
hand being the ancient Water Gate. 

D D D. North Side Gates. 

E E E E. Money Chests. 

F F. Courts and Chambers. 



G. Nicanor Gate. 

H. Fifteen Steps of the Levites. 

I. House of Stoves. 

J. Steps of the Priests. 

K. To Mount Zion. 

L. Shushan Gate, with arched roadway, to Mount 

of Olives (?) 
M. To Bezetha. 



-^h 



24 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 



apartments for the Levites, and a synagogue. But, de- 
spite pharisaic punctiliousness, the noise, especially on the 
eve of the Passover, must have been most disturbing. 
For there the oxen, sheep, and doves selected as fit for 
sacrifices were sold as in a market ; and here were those 
tables of the money-changers which the Lord overthrew 
when He drove from His Father's house them that bought 
and sold.^ Within a short distance, in the court, a marble 
screen 4I feet high, and beautifully ornamented, bore Greek 
and Latin inscriptions, warning Gentiles not to proceed on 
pain of death. One of those very tablets, bearing almost 
the same words as those given by Josephus, has been dis- 
covered in late excavations. It was because they thought 
Paul had infringed this order, that the infuriated multitude 
**went about to kill him/'^ Beyond this enclosure a flight 
of fourteen steps, each 9 inches high, led up to a terrace 
15 feet broad, called the '* Chel," which bounded the inner wall 
of the Temple. We are now approaching the Sanctuary itself, 
which consisted, first, of three courts, each higher than the 
former, and, beyond them, of the Holy and Most Holy Places 
with their outbuildings. Entering by the principal gate on the 
east ^t pass, first into the Court of the Women, thence into 
that of Israel, and from the latter into that of the Priests. This 
would have been, so to speak, the natural way of advancing. 
But there was a nearer road into the Court of the Priests. 
For both north and south, along the terrace, flights of steps led 
up to three gates (both north and south), which opened into 
the Court of the Priests, while a fourth gate (north and south) 
led into the middle of the Court of the Women. Thus there 
were nine gates opening from '' the Terrace " into the Sanc- 

} 3i[att. xxi, 12 ; John ii. 14. Compare also especially jfer^ Chag, 78 a^ 
* Acts xxi. 31. 



Within the Holy Place. 25 

tuary — the principal one from the east, and four north and 
south, of which one (north and south) also led into the Court 
of the Women, and the other three (north and south) into 
that of the Priests. 

These eight side gates, as we may call them, were all two- 
leaved, wide, high, with superstructures and chambers sup- 
ported by two pillars, and covered with gold and silver 
plating. But far more magnificent thar^ any of them was 
the ninth or eastern gate, which formed the principal entrance 
into the Temple. The ascent to it was from the terrace by 
twelve easy steps. The gate itself was made of dazzling 
Corinthian brass, most richly ornamented ; and so massive 
were its double doors that it needed the united strength of 
twenty men to open and close them. This was the "Beautiful 
Gate ; " and on its steps had they been wont these many 
years to lay the lame man, just as privileged beggars now lie 
at the entrance to continental cathedrals. No wonder that 
all Jerusalem knew him ; and when on that sunny afternoon 
Peter and John joined the worshippers in the Court of the 
Women, not alone, but in company with the well-known 
cripple, who, after his healing, was "walking and leaping 
and praising God," universal "wonder and amazement" 
must have been aroused. Then, when the lame man, still 
"holding by" the apostles, again descended these steps, we 
can readily understand how all the people would crowd 
around in Solomon's Porch, close by, till the sermon of Peter 
— so fruitful in its spiritual results — was interrupted by the 
Temple police, and the sudden imprisonment of the apostles. 

The Court of the Women obtained its name, not from its 
appropriation to the exclusive use of women, but because 
they were not allowed to proceed farther, except for sacri- 



26 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

ficial purposes. Indeed, this was probably the common place 
for worship, the females occupying, according to Jewish tradi- 
tion, only a raised gallery along three sides of the court. 
This court covered a space upwards of 200 feet square. 
All around ran a simple colonnade, and within it, against 
the wall, the thirteen chests, or "trumpets," for charitable 
contributions were placed/ These thirteen chests were narrow 
at the mouth and wide at the bottom, shaped like trumpets, 
whence their name. Their specific objects were carefully 
marked on them. Nine were for the receipt of what was 
legally due by worshippers ; the other four for strictly volun- 
tary gifts. Trumpets I. and II. were appropriated to the 
half-shekel Temple-tribute of the current and of the past 
year. Into Trumpet III. those women who had to bring 
turtledoves for a burnt and a sin-offering dropped their 
equivalent in money, which was daily taken out and a corre- 
sponding number of turtledoves offered. This not only saved 
the labour of so many separate sacrifices, but spared the 
modesty of those who might not wish to have the occasion 
or the circumstances of their offering to be publicly known. 
Into this trumpet Mary the mother of Jesus must have 
dropped the value of her offering^ when the aged Simeon 
took the infant Saviour " in his arms and blessed God.'* 
Trumpet IV. similarly received the value of the offerings 
of young pigeons. In Trumpet V. contributions for the 
wood used in the Temple ; in Trumpet VI. for the 
incense, and in Trumpet VII. for the golden vessels for 
the ministry were deposited. If a man had put aside a 
certain sum for a sin-offering, and any money was left over 
after its purchase, it was cast into Trumpet VIII. Simi- 

^ It was probably into one of these that the poor widow dropped her '* two 
mites " (Luke xxi. 2). 3 Luke ii. 22, 24. 



Within the Holy Place. 2^ 

larly Trumpets IX., X., XL, XII., and XIII. were destined 
for what was left over from trespass-offerings, offerings o"" 
birds, the offering of the Nazarite, of the cleansed leper, and 
voluntary offerings. In all probability this space where the 
thirteen Trumpets were placed was the "treasury," where 
Jesus taught on that memorable Feast of Tabernacles.^ We 
can also understand how, from the peculiar and known desti- 
nation of each of these thirteen " trumpets," the Lord could 
distinguish the contributions of the rich who cast in "of 
•their abundance" from that of the poor widow who of her 
"penury" had given "all the living" that she had.^ But 
there was also a special treasury-chamber, into which at 
certain times they carried the contents of the thirteen chests ; 
and, besides, what was called "a chamber of the silent," 
whqre devout persons secretly deposited money, afterwards 
secretly employed for educating children of the pious poor. 

It is probably in ironical allusion to the form and name of 
these treasure-chests that the Lord, making use of the word 
" trumpet," describes the conduct of those who, in their 
almsgiving, sought glory from men as "sounding a trumpet" 
before them^ — that is, carrying before them, as it were, in 
full display one of these trumpet-shaped alms-boxes (lite- 
rally called in the Talmud, " trumpets "), and, as it were, 
sounding it* 

^ John vii. viii., see specially viii. 20. 

2 Mark xii. 41 ; Luke xxi. I. ^ Matt. vi. 2. 

* The allusion is all the more pointed when we bear in mind that each of these 
trumpets had a mark to tell its special object. It seems strange that this inter- 
pretation should not have occurred to any of the commentators, who have always 
found the allusion such a crux inter pretum. An article in the Bible Educator 
has since substantially adopted this view, adding that trumpets were blown when 
the alms were collected. But for the latter statement there is no historical 
authority whatever, and it would contravene the religious spirit of the times. 



28. The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

In each of the four corners of the Court of the Women 
were chambers, or rather unroofed courts, each said to have 
been 60 feet long. In that at the right hand (on the north- 
east), the priests who were unfit for other than menial services 
on account of bodily blemishes, picked the worm-eaten wood 
from that destined for the altar. In the court at the farther 
angle (north-west) the purified lepers washed before pre- 
senting themselves to the priests at the Gate of Nicanor. 
At the left (south-east) the Nazarites polled their hair, 
and cooked their peace-offerings ; while in a fourth court 
(at the south-west) the oil and wine were kept for the 
drink-offerings. The musical instruments used by the 
Levites were deposited in two rooms under the Court of 
the Israelites, to which the access was from the Court of 
the Women. 

Of course the western colonnade of this court was open. 
Thence fifteen easy steps led through the so-called Gate of 
Nicanor^ into the Court of Israel. On these steps the Levites 
were wont on the Feast of Tabernacles to sing the fifteen 
" Psalms of Degrees,'' or ascent,^ whence some have derived 
their name. Here, or, rather, in the Gate of Nicanor, all that 
was ordered to be done ** before the Lord " took place. There 
the cleansed leper and the women coming for purification 
presented themselves to the priests, and there also the " water 
of jealousy '' was given to the suspected wife. 

Perhaps it will be most convenient for practical purposes 
to regard the two Courts of Israel and of the Priests as in 
reality forming only one^ divided into two parts by a low 

1 Jost (GescL d. Jud,, vol. i. p, 142) calls the Nicanor the gate of Corinthian 
brass. On the origin of the name see Herzfeld, Gesch. d. V. Isr., vol. i. 
p. 344. 2 Psalms cxx. to cxxxiv. 



Within the Holy Place. 29 

balustrade \\ feet high. Thus viewed, this large double 
court, inclusive of the Sanctuary itself, would measure 
280J feet in length by 202\ feet in breadth. Of this a 
narrow strip,. 16^ feet long, formed the Court of Israel. 
Two steps led up from it to the Court of the Priests. Here 
you mounted again by three low semicircular steps to a kind 
of pulpit or platform, where, as well as on the " fifteen steps," 
the Levites sung and played during the ordinary service. 
The priests^ on the other hand, occupied, while pronouncing 
the blessing, the steps at the other end of the court which 
led up to the Temple porch. A similar arrangement existed 
in the great court as in that of the Women. Right and left 
of the Nicanor Gate were receptacles for the priestly vest- 
ments (one for each of the four kinds, and for the twenty-four 
courses of priests : 4 x 24 = 96). 

Next came the chamber of the high-priesf s meat-offer- 
ing,^ where each morning before going to their duties the 
officiating priesthood gathered from the so-called *' Beth- 
ha-Moked,'* or ** house of stoves.'* The latter was built on 
arches, and contained a large dining hall that communi- 
cated with four other chambers. One of these was a large 
apartment where fires were continually burning for the use 
of the priests, who ministered barefoot. There also the 
heads of the ministering courses slept, and here, in a special 
receptacle under the pavement, the keys of the Temple 
were hung up at night. Of the other three charnbers of the 
Beth-Moked, one was appropriated to the various counter- 
foils given as a warrant when a person had paid his due for 
a drink-offering. In another the shewbread was prepared, 
while yet a third served for the lambs (at least six in number) 

1 Lev. vi. 20. 



30 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

that were always kept ready for the regular sacrifice. Here 
also a passage led to the well-lit subterranean bath for the 
use of the priests. Besides the Beth-Moked there were north 
and south of the court rooms for storing the salt for the altar, 
for salting the skins of sacrifices, for washing " their inwards," 
for storing the ''clean" wood, for the machinery by which the 
laver was supplied with water, and finally the chamber 
'*Gazith," or hall of hewn stones, where the Sanhedrim 
was wont to meet. Above some of these chambers were 
other apartments, such as those in which the high-priest 
spent the week before the Day of Atonement in study and 
meditation. 

The account which Jewish tradition gives of these gates and 
chambers around the Court of the Priests* is somewhat con- 
flicting, perhaps because the same chambers and gates may 
have borne different names. It may, however, be thus sum- 
marised. Entering the Great Court by the Nicanor Gate, there 
was at the right hand the Chamber of Phinehas with its 96 re- 
ceptacles for priests' vestments, and at the left the place where 
the high-priest's daily meat-offering was prepared, and where 
every morning before daybreak all the ministering priests met, 
after their inspection of the Temple and before being told 
off to duty. Along the southern side of the court were the 
Watergate, through which at the Feast of Tabernacles the 
pitcher with water was brought from the Pool of Siloam, 
with a chamber above it, called Abtinas,^ where the priests 
kept guard at night ; then the Gate of the Firstlings, through 
which the firstlings fit to be offered were brought ; and the 
Wood-gate, through which the altar- wood was carried. Along- 
side these gates were Gazitky the hall of square polished 
stones, where the Sanhedrim sat ; the chamber Golah, for the 

1 The Talmud {^Yofna 19, a) expresses a doubt as to its exact localisation. 



Within the Holy Place. 31 

water apparatus which emptied and filled the laver ; and the 
wood-chamber. Above and beyond it were the apartments of 
the high-priest and the council-chamber of the ** honourable 
councillors," or priestly council for affairs strictly connected 
with the Temple. On the northern side of the Priests' Court 
were the gate Nitzutz (Spark Gate), with a guard-chamber 
above for the priests, the Gate of Sacrifices, and the Gate of 
the Beth-Moked. Alongside these gates were the chamber 
for salting the sacrifices ; that for salting the skins (named 
Parvah from its builder), with bath-rooms for the high-priest 
above it ; and finally the Beth-Moked with its apartments. 
The two largest of these buildings — the council-chamber of 
the Sanhedrim at the south-eastern,^ and the Beth-Moked at 
the north-western angle of the court — were partly built into 
the court and partly out on '^ the terrace." This, because none 
other than a prince of the house of David might sit down 
within the sacred enclosure of the Priests' Court. Probably 
there was a similar arrangement for the high-priest's apart- 
ments and the priests' council-chamber, as well as for the 
guard-chambers of the priests, so that at each of the four 
corners of the court the apartments would abut upon " the 

1 It is very strange what mistakes are made about the localisation of the rooms 
and courts connected with the Temple. Thus the writer of the article *' Sanhedrim" 
in Kitto's Encycl.^ vol. iii. p. 766, says that the hall of the Sanhedrim '*was 
situate in the centre of the south side of the Tem])Ie-court, the northern part ex- 
tending to the Court of the Priests, and the southern part to the Court of the 
Israelites.** But the Court of Israel and that of the Priests did not lie north and 
south, but east and west, as a glance at the Temple plan will show ! The hall of 
the Sanhedrim extended indeed south, though certainly not to the Court of Israel, 
but to the C^^/ or terrace. The authorities quoted in the article **Sanhedrm" 
do not bear out the writer's conclusions. It ought to be remarked that about the 
time of Christ the Sanhedrim removed its sittings from the Hall of Square Stones 
to another on the east of the Temple-court. 



32 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

Terrace/*^ All along the colonnades, both around the Court 
of the Gentiles and that of the Women, there were seats and 
benches for the accommodation of the worshippers. 

The most prominent object in the Court of the Priests 
was the immense altar of unhewn stones,^ a square of not 
less than 48 feet, and, inclusive of '* the horns," 15 feet high. 
All around it a "circuit ran" for the use of the ministering 
priests, who, as a rule, always passed round by the right, 
and retired by the left ^ As this '' circuit " was raised 
9 feet from the ground, and i\ feet high, while the ''horns" 
measured \\ feet in height, the priests would have only to reach 
3 feet to the top of the altar, and 4I feet to that of each 
"horn." An inclined plane, 48 feet long by 24 wide, into 
which about the middle two smaller " descents " merged, led 
up to the "circuit " from the south. Close by was the great 
heap of salt, from which every sacrifice must be salted with 
salt.^ On the altar, which at the top was only 36 feet wide, 
three fires burned, one (east) for the offerings, the second 
(south) for the incense, the third (north) to supply the means 
for kindling the other two. The four " horns " of the altar 

^ We know that the two priestly guard-chambers above the Water Gate and 
Nitzutz opened also upon the terrace. This may explain how the Talmud some- 
times speaks of six and sometimes of eight gates opening from the Priests' Court 
upon the terrace, or else gates 7 and 8 may have been those which opened from the 
terrace north and south into the Court of the Women. 

"^ They were ** whitened" twice a year. Once in seven years the high-priest 
was to inspect the Most Holy Place, through an opening made from the room 
above. If repairs were required, the workmen were let down through the ceiling 
in a sort of cage, so as not to see anything but what they were to work at. 

3 The three exceptions to this are specially mentioned in the Talmud. The 
high-priest both ascended and descended by the right. 

. * Also a receptacle for such sin-offerings of birds as had become spoiled. This 
inclined plane was kept covered with salt, to prevent the priests, who were 
barefooted, from slipping. 



Within the Holy Place. 3.3. 

were straight, square, hollow prominences, that at the souths 
west with two openings, into whose silver funnels the drink- 
offerings, and, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the water from 
the Pool of Siloam, were poured. A red line all round the 
middle of the altar marked that above it the blood of 
sacrifices intended to be eaten, below it that of sacrifices 
wholly consumed, was to be sprinkled. The system of 
drainage into chambers below and canals, all of which could 
be flushed at will, was perfect ; the blood and refuse being 
swept down into Kedron and towards the royal gardens. 
Finally, north of the altar were all requisites for the sacri- 
fices — six rows, with four rings each, of ingenious mechanism, 
for fastening the sacrifices ; eight marble tables for the flesh, 
fat, and cleaned '' inwards ; " eight low columns, each with 
three hooks, for hanging up the pieces ; a marble table for 
laying them out, and one of silver for the gold and silver 
vessels of the service. 

Between the altar and porch of the Temple, but placed , 
towards the south, was the immense laver of brass, supported 
by twelve colossal lions, which was drained every evening, and 
filled every morning by machinery, and where twelve priests 
could wash at the same time. Indeed the water supply to 
the Sanctuary is among the most wonderful of its arrange- 
ments. That of the Temple is designated by Captain Wilson 
as the '' low-level supply," in contradistinction to the '' high- 
level aqueduct,'' which collected the water in a rock-hewn 
tunnel four miles long, on the road to Hebron, and then 
wound along so as to deliver water to the upper portion of 
the city. The " low-level " aqueduct, which supplied the 
Temple, derived its waters from three sources — from the hills 
about ^^ bron, from Etham, and from the three pools of 

D 



34 ^'^^ Templey its Ministry and Services. 

Solomon. Its total length was over forty miles. The 
amount of water it conveyed may be gathered from the 
fact that the surplusage of the waters of Etham is cal- 
culated, when drained into the lower pool of Gihon, to have 
presented when full, '' an area of nearly four acres of water." * 
And, as if this had not been sufficient, "the ground is 
perfectly honeycombed with a series of remarkable rock- 
hewn cisterns, in which the water brought by an aqueduct 
from Solomon's Pools, near Bethlehem, was stored. The 
cisterns appear to have been connected by a system of 
channels cut out of the rock ; so that when one was full 
the surplus water ran into the next, and so on, till the final 
overflow was carried off by a channel into the Kedron. "One 
of the cisterns — that known as the Great Sea — would contain 
two million gallons ; and the total number of gallons which 
could be stored probably exceeded ten millions.'* There 
seems little doubt that the drainage of Jerusalem was ** as 
well managed as the water supply ; the mouth of the main 
drain being in the valley of the Kedron, where the sewerage 
was probably used as manure for the gardens." 

The mind becomes bewildered at numbers, the accuracy 
of which we should hesitate to receive if they were not con- 
firmed by modern investigations. We feel almost the same 
in speaking of the proportions of the Holy House itself. It 
was built on immense foundations of solid blocks of white 
marble covered with gold, each block measuring, according 
to Josephus, 6'j\ by 9 feet. Mounting by a flight of twelve 
steps to the " Porch," we notice that it projected 30 feet on 
each side beyond the Temple itself Including these pro- 
jections, the buildings of the Temple were 150 feet long, 

* See Barclay, City of the Great King^ pp. 292-336. 



V/ithin the Holy Place. 35 

and as many broad. Without them the breadth was only 
90 and the length 120 feet. Of these 60 feet in length, from 
east to west, and 30 feet in breadth, belonged to the Holy 
Place ; while the Most Holy was 30 feet long, and as many 
broad. There were, therefore, on either side of the Sanctuary, 
as well as behind it, 30 feet to spare, which were occupied 
by side buildings three stories high, each containing five 
rooms, while that at the back had eight. These side-build- 
ings, however, were lower than the Sanctuary itself, over 
which also superstructures had been reared. A gabled cedar 
roof, with golden spikes on it, and surrounded by an elegant 
balustrade, surmounted the whole. 

The entrance to the *' Porch," which was curiously roofed, 
was covered by a splendid veil. Right and left were deposi- 
tories for the sacrificial knives. Within the '' Porch " a 
number of " dedicated " gifts were kept, such as the golden 
candelabra of the proselyte queen of Adiabene, two golden 
crowns presented by the Maccabees, etc. Here were also 
two tables — one of marble, on which they deposited the new 
shewbread ; the other of gold, on which they laid the old 
as it was removed from the Holy Place. Two-leaved doors,^ 
with gold plating, and covered by a rich Babylonian curtain 
of the four colours of the Temple (" fine linen, blue, scarlet, 
and purple ") formed the entrance into the Holy Place. 
Above it hung that symbol of Israel,^ a gigantic vine of pure 
gold, and made of votive offerings — each cluster the height 
of a man. In the Holy Place were, to the south, the golden 
candlestick, to the north, the table of shewbread, and beyond 
them the altar of incense, near the entrance to the Most 

^ There was also a small wicket gate by which he entered who opened the large 
doors from within^ 2 Psalm Ixxx. £ 3 Jer. ii. 21 ; Ezek. xix. lO ; Joel i. 7. 



$6 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

Holy. The latter was now quite empty, a large stone, on 
which the high-priest sprinkled the blood on the Day of Atone- 
ment, occupying the place where the ark with the mercy- 
seat had stood. A wooden partition separated the Most 
Holy from the Holy Place; and over the door hung the 
veil which was *' rent in twain from the top to the bottom " 
when the way into the holiest of all was opened on Golgotha.' 

Such was the Temple as restored by Herod — a work which 
occupied forty-six years to its completion. Yet, though the 
Rabbis never weary praising its splendour, not with one 
word do any of those who were cotemporary indicate that 
its restoration was carried out by Herod the Great.^ So 
memqrable an event in their history is passed over with the 
most absolute silence. What a complete answer does this 
afford to the objection sometimes raised from the silence of 
Josephus about the person and mission of Jesus! 

With what reverence the Rabbis guarded their Temple 
will be described in the sequel. The readers of the New 
Testament know how readily any supposed infringement of 
its sanctity led to summary popular vengeance. To the 
disciples of Jesus it seemed difficult to realise that such utter 
ruin as their Master foretold could so soon come over that 
beautiful and glorious house. It was the evening of the day 
in which He had predicted the utter desolation of Jerusalem. 
All that day He had taught in the Tempk, and what He 
had said, not only there, but when, on beholding the city, 
He wept over it, seems to have filled their minds alike with 
awe and with doubt. And now He, with His disciples, had 

^ Matt, xxvii. 51. The Rabbis speak of two veils, and say that the higK-priest 
went in by the southern edge of the first veil, then walked along till he reached 
the northern corner of the second veil, by which he entered the Most Holy Place. 

* The first mention occurs in the Babylon Talmud, and then neither gratefully 
nor graciously. {J'aan, 23 a. ; Baba, B. 3, d. ', ^a. -, Succ, 51 ^.) 



Within the Holy Place. 37 

*' departed from the Temple." Once more they lingered in 
sweet retirement " on the Mount of Olives."^ **The purple light 
on the mountains of Moab was fast fading out. Across the 
city the sinking sun cast a rich glow over the pillared cloisters 
of the Temple, and over the silent courts as they rose terrace 
upon terrace. From where they stood they could see over the 
closed Beautiful Gate, and right to the entrance to the Holy 
Place, which now glittered with gold ; while the eastern walls 
and the deep valley below were thrown into a solemn shadow, 
creeping, as the orb sunk lower, further and further towards 
the summit of Olivet, irradiated with one parting gleam of 
roseate light, after all below was sunk in obscurity."^ 

Then it was and there that the disciples, looking down 
upon the Temple, pointed out to the Master : " What manner 
of stones and what buildings are here." The view from that 
site must have rendered belief in the Master's prediction even 
more difficult and more sad, A few years more, and it was 
all literally fulfilled ! It may be, as Jewish tradition has 
it, that ever since the Babylonish captivity the "Ark of 
the Covenant" lies buried and concealed underneath the 
wood-court at the north-eastern angle of the " Court of the 
Women." And it may be that some at least of the spoils 
which Titus carried with him from Jerusalem — the seven- 
branched candlestick, the table of shewbread, the priests' 
trumpets, and the identical golden mitre which Aaron had 
worn on his forehead — are hidden somewhere in the vaults 
beneath the site of the Temple, after having successively 
gone to Rome, to Carthage, to Byzantium, to Ravenna, and 
thence to Jerusalem. But of *' those great buildings" that 
once stood there, there is " not left one stone upon another" 
that has not been '' thrown down." 

* Matt, xxiv, I, 3. * Bartlett, Jerusalem Revisited^ p. 11$, 



CHAPTER III. 

TEMPLE ORDER, REVENUES, AND MUSIC. 

** For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the 
high-priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that 
He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate." 
— Hebrews xiii. ii, 12. 

TO the devout and earnest Jew the second Temple must^ 
'*in comparison of" "the house in her first glory," have 
indeed appeared *' as nothing."^ True, in architectural 
splendour the second, as restored by Herod, far surpassed the 
first Temple.^ But, unless faith had recognised in Jesus of 
Nazareth " the desire of all nations," who should " fill this 
house with glory," ^ it would have been difificult to draw other 
than sad comparisons. Confessedly, the real elements of 
Temple-glory no longer existed. The Holy of Holies was 
quite empty, the ark of the covenant with the cherubim, the 
tables of the law, the book of the covenant, Aaron's Tod that 
budded, and the pot of manna, were no longer in the sanc- 
tuary. The fire that had descended from heaven upon the 

^ Hagg. ii. 3. 

2 The Talmud expressly calls attention to this, and mentions as another point 
of pre-eminence, that whereas the first Temple stood 410, the second lasted 420 
years. 

* Hagg. ii. 7. 



Temple Order. Revenues y and Music, 39 

altar was extinct. What was far more solemn, the visible 
presence of God in the Shechinah was wanting.^ Nor could 
the will of God be now ascertained through the Urim and 
Thummim, nor even the high-priest, be anointed with the holy 
oil, its very composition being unknown. Yet all the more 
jealously did the Rabbis draw lines of fictitious sanctity, and 
guard them against all infringement. 

In general, as the camp in the wilderness had really con- 
$isted of three parts — the camp of Israel, that of the Levites, 
and that of God — so they reckoned three corresponding 
divisions of the Holy City. From the gates to the Temple 
Mount was regarded as the camp of Israel ; thence to the 
gate of Nicanor represented the camp of Levi ; while the rest 
of the sanctuary was " the camp of God." It is in allusion 
to this that the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews compares 
Christ's suffering " without the gate " of Jerusalem to the 
burning of the sin offerings " without the camp." According 
to another Rabbinical arrangement different degrees of 
sanctity attached to different localities. The first, or lowest 
degree, belonged to the land of Israel, whence alone the first 
sheaf at the Passover, the firstfruits, and the two wave-loaves 
at Pentecost might be brought ; the next degree to walled 
cities in Palestine, where no leper nor dead body^ might 
remain ; the third to Jerusalem itself, since, besides many 
prohibitions to guard its purity, it was only there lawful to 
partake of peace-offerings, of the first-fruits, and of ''the 
second tithes." Next came, successively, the Temple Mount, 

1 The following five are mentioned by the Rabbis as wanting in the last Temple : 
the ark, the holy fire, the Shechinah, the spirit of prophecy, and the Urim and 
Thummim. 

^ Luke yii* X2» 



40 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

from which all who were in a state of levitical uncleanness 
were excluded ; *' the Terrace," or " Chel," from which, 
besides Gentiles, those who had become defiled by contact 
with a dead body were shut out ; the Court of the Women, 
into which those who had been polluted might not come, 
even if they " had washed/' till after they were also levitically 
fit to eat of " things sacred," that is, after sunset of the 
day on which they had washed ; the Court of Israel, into 
which those might not enter who, though delivered from 
their uncleanness, had not yet brought the offering for 
their purification ; ^ the Court of the Priests, ordinarily acces- 
sible only to the latter; the space between the altar and 
the Temple itself, from which even priests were excluded if 
their bearing showed that they did not realise the solemnity 
of the place ; the Temple, into which the priests might only 
enter after washing their hands and feet ; and, lastly, the 
Most Holy Place, into which the high-priest alone was 
allowed to go, and that only once a year. 

From these views of the sanctity of the place, it will readily 
be understood how sufficient outward reverence should have 
been expected of all who entered upon the Temple Mount 
The Rabbis here also lay down certain rules, of which some 
are such as a sense of propriety would naturally suggest, 
while others strangely remind us of the words of our Saviour. 
Thus no one was to come to it except for strictly religious 
purposes, and neither to make the Temple Mount a place 
of thoroughfare, nor use it to shorten the road. Ordinarily 
the worshippers were to enter by the right and to withdraw 

^ This class would include the following four cases ; the cleansed leper, a person 
who had had an issue, a woman that had been in her separation, and one who had 
just borne a child. Further explanations of each case are given in subsequent chapters. 



Temple Order ^ Revenues ^ and Music. 41 

by the left, avoiding both the direction and the gate by 
which they had come. But mourners and those under 
ecclesiastical discipline were to do the reverse, so as to meet 
the stream of worshippers, who might address to them either 
words of sympathy (*' He who dwelleth in this house grant 
thee comfort ! "), or else of admonition (" He who dwelleth 
in this house put it into thy mind to give heed to those 
who would restore thee again ! "). As already stated, it 
was expressly prohibited to sit down in the Court of the 
Priests, an exception being only made in favour of princes of 
the house of David, probably to vindicate their consistency, 
as such instances were recorded in the past history of Israel. 
Alike the ministering priests and the worshippers were to walk 
backwards when leaving the immediate neighbourhood where 
the holy service was performed, and at the gate of Nicanor 
each one was to stand with his head bent. It need scarcely 
be said that reverence in gesture and deportment was enjoined 
while on the Temple Mount. But even when at a distance 
from Jerusalem and the Temple; its direction was to be noted, 
so as to avoid in every-day life anything that might seem 
incongruous with the reverence due to the place of which God 
had said, "Mine eyes and mine heart shall be there per- 
petually."^ Probably from a similar feeling of reverence, it 
was ordered, that when once a week the sanctuary was 
thoroughly cleaned, any repairs found needful should be exe- 
cuted if possible by priests or else by Levites, or at least by 
Israelites, and only in case of extreme necessity by work- 
men not levitically *' clean." 

Other Rabbinical ordinances, however, are not so easily 
explained, unless on the ground of the avoidance of every 

* I Kings ix. 3, 



42 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

occupation and undertaking other than worship. Thus " no 
man might go on the Temple Mount with his staff," as if 
on business or pleasure ; nor yet "with shoes on his feet" — 
sandals only being allowed ; nor ** with the dust upon his 
feet;" nor *'with his scrip/' nor "with money tied to him in 
his purse." Whatever he might wish to contribute either to 
the Temple, or for offerings, or for the poor must be carried by 
each " in his hand," possibly to indicate that the money about 
him was exclusively for an immediate sacred purpose. It 
was probably for similar reasons that Jesus transferred these 
very ordinances to the disciples when engaged in the service of 
the real Temple. The direction, "Provide neither gold, nor 
silver, nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your journey, 
neither two coats, neither shoes, nor yet staves," must mean, 
Go out in the same spirit and manner as you would to the 
Temple services, and fear not — " for the workman is worthy 
of his meat"^ In other words : Let this new Temple service 
be your only thought, undertaking, and care.^ 

But, guard it as they might, it was impossible wholly to 
preserve the sanctuary from profanation. For wilful, conscious, 
high handed profanity, whether in reference to the Temple or 
to God, the law does not appear to have provided any atone- 
ment or offering. To this the Epistle to the Hebrews alludes 
in the well-known passage, so often misunderstood, " For if 
we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of 
the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a cer- 
tain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, 
which shall devour the adversaries."^ In point of fact, these 
terms of threatening correspond to two kinds of- Divine 

1 Matt, X. 9, 10. * On the reverence due in prayer, see a subsequent chapter. 

Heb. X. 26, 27. 



Temple Order^ Revemces^ aiid Music. 43 

punishment frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. 
The one, often referred to in the warning ^' that he die 
not," is called by the Rabbis, ''death by the hand of Heaven 
or of God ; '* the other is that of being *' cut off." It is 
difficult to distinguish exactly between these two. Tradition 
enumerates thirty-six offences to which the punishment of 
''cutting off" attaches. From their graver nature, as com- 
pared with the eleven offences on which " death by the 
hand of God" was to follow, we gather that " cutting off" 
must have been the severer of the two punishments, and 
it may correspond to the term "fiery indignation." Some 
Rabbis hold that " death by the hand of God " was a 
punishment which ended with this life, while '' cutting off" 
extended beyond it. But the best authorities maintain, 
that whereas death by the hand of Heaven fell upon the 
guilty individual alone, " the cutting off" extended to the 
children also, so that the tamily would become extinct in 
Israel. Such Divine punishment is alluded to in i Cor. xvi. 22y 
under the well-known Jewish expression, " Anathema ]\Iaran- 
atha " — literally, Anathema when the Lord cometh ! 

To these two Divine punishments corresponded other two 
by the hand of man— the "forty stripes save one," and the 
so-called " rebels' beating." The distinction between them 
is easily explained. The former were only inflicted after a 
regular judicial investigation and sentence, and for the breach 
of some negative precept or prohibition ; while the latter was, 
so to speak, in the hands of the people, who might administer 
it on the spot, and without trial, if any one were caught 
in supposed open defiance of some positive precept, whether 
of the law of Moses or of the traditions of the elders. 
The reader of the New Testament will remember such 



44 The Temphy its Ministry and Services. 

popular outbursts, when the men of Nazareth would have 
cast Jesus over the brow of the hill on which their city was 
built,^ and when on at least two occasions the people took 
up stones in the Temple to stone Him. ^ It is a remark- 
able fact, that when the Lord Jesus and when His martyr 
Stephen were before the Sanhedrim,^ the procedure was in 
each case in direct contravention of all the rules of the 
Rabbinical criminal law. In each case the sitting terminated 
in " the rebels' beating/* both when they " buffeted the 
Master " and " smote Him with the palms of their hands,'' 
and when ** they ran upon " Stephen " with one accord, and 
cast him out of the city, and stoned him." For the rebels' 
beating was really unto death. The same punishment was 
also to have been inflicted upon Paul, when, on the charge of 
having brought a Gentile beyond the enclosure in the court 
open to such, ^* the people ran together, and they took Paul, 
and drew him out of the Temple," and ** went about to kill 
him." This summary mode of punishing supposed "rebellion " 
was probably vindicated by the example of Phinehas, the son 
of Eleazar.* On the other hand, the mildness of the Rab- 
binical law, where religious feelings were not involved, led to 
modifications of the punishment prescribed in Deut. xxv. 2, 3. 
Thus because the words were, " by a certain number, forty 
stripes he may give him," instead of a simple direction to 
give the forty stripes, the law was construed as meaning a 
number near to forty, or thirty-nine, which accordingly was 
the severest corporeal punishment awarded at one time. 
If the number of stripes were less than thirty-nine, it 
must still be some multiple of three, since, as the scourge 

1 Luke iv. 29. 2 John viii. 59 ; x. 31. 

» Matt. xxvi. 59, 68; Acts vii. 57, 58. * Numb. xxv. 7, 8, 



Temple Order, Revenues, and Music. 45 

was composed of three separate thongs (the middle one of 
cah's leather, the other two of asses', with a reference to 
Isaiah i. 3), each stroke of the scourge in reality inflicted three 
stripes. Hence the greatest number of strokes administered 
at one time amounted only to thirteen. The law also most 
particularly defined and modified every detail, even to the 
posture of the criminal. Still this punishment, which St. Paul 
underwent not less than five times at the hands of the Jews,^ 
must have been very severe. In general, we can only hope 
that it was not so often administered as Rabbinical writings 
seem to imply. During the scourging, Deut. xxviii. 58, 59, 
and at its close Psa. Ixxviii. 38, were read to the culprit. 
After the punishment he was not to be reproached, but 
received as a brother.^ 

That strict discipline both in regard to priests and wor- 
shippers would, however, be necessary, may be inferred even 
from the immense number of worshippers which thronged 
Jerusalem and the Temple. According to a late computation, 
the Temple could have held " within its colossal girdle " '* two 
amphitheatres of the size of the Coliseum.** As the latter is 
reckoned to have been capable, inclusive of its arena and 
passages, of accommodating 109,000 persons, the calculation 
that the Temple might contain at one time about 210,000 
persons seems by no means exaggerated.^ It will readily be 

i 2 Cor. xi. 24. 

2 Further details belong to the criminal jurisprudence of the Sanhedrim. 

^ ^^^ Edinburgh J^eview for J SLnum-jf 1873, p. 18. We may here msert another 
architectural comparison from the same interesting article, which, however, is 
unfortunately defaced by many and serious mistakes on other points. ** The 
length of the eastern wall of the sanctuary," writes the reviewer, **was more 
than double that of the side of the Great Pyramid ; its height nearly one-third of 
the Egyptian structure from the foundation. If to this great height of 152 feet 
of solid wall you add the descent of 114 feet to the bed of the Kedron, and the 



46 The Temple, its Ministry a?td Services. 

believed what immense wealth this multitude must have 
brought to the great national sanctuary. 

Indeed, the Temple treasury had always been an object 
of cupidity to foreigners. It was successively plundered by 
Syrians and Romans/ though at the last siege the flames 
deprived Titus and his soldiers of this booty. Even so liberal 
and enlightened a statesman as Cicero inveighed, perhaps on 
the ground of exaggerated reports, against the enormous 
influx of gold from all lands to Jerusalem. From biblical 
history we know how liberal were the voluntary contribu- 
tions at the time of Moses, of David, and again of Joash^ and 
of Josiah.^ Such offerings to the Temple treasury continued 
to the last a very large source of revenue. They might be 
brought either in the form of vows or of free gifts. Any 
object, or even a person, might be dedicated by vow to the 
altar. If the thing vowed were suitable, it would be used ; if 
otherwise, sold, and its value given to the treasury. Readers 
of the New Testament know how fatally such spurious 
liberality interfered with the most sacred duties of life.^ From 
Jewish tradition we gather that there must have been 
quite a race for distinction in this respect. The wood, the 
incense, the wine, the oil, and all other things requisite for the 
sacred services, as well as golden and silver vessels, were 
contributed with lavish hand. Certain families obtained by 
their zeal special privileges, such as that the wood they brought 
should always be first used for the altar fire ; and the case 
of people leaving the whole of their fortune to the Temple is 

further elevation of 160 feet attained by the pinnacle, we have a total of 426 
feet, which is only 59 feet less than the Great Pyramid." 

^ The history of the Temple treasury would form an interesting subject, on 
which for the present we cannot enter. 

« 2 ChroHo xxiv. ^ 2 Kings xxii. * Matt, xv. 5, 



i'emple Order ^ Revenues^ and Music. 47 

so often discussed,^ that it must have been a by no means 
uncommon occurrence. To this practice Christ may have 
referred in denouncing the Scribes and Pharisees who "devour 
widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers."^ 
For a good deal of this money went in the end from the 
Temple treasury to them, although there is no evidence of 
their' intriguing for personal gifts. Besides these votive offer- 
ings, and the sale of the surplusage of incense, flour, etc., the 
people were wont on the Sabbaths and feast-days to bring 
voluntary contributions *Mn their hand" to the Temple.^ 
Another and very large source of revenue was from the 
profit made by the meat-offerings, which were prepared by 
the Levites, and sold every day to the offerers. But by 
far the largest sum was derived from the half-shekel of Temple \ 
tribute, which was incumbent on every male Israelite of a^e, ^ 
including proselytes and even manumitted slaves. As the 
shekel of the sanctuary was double the ordinary, the half- 
shekel due to the Temple treasury amounted to about is. 4d. 
(two denarii or a did^^achmd). Hence, when Christ was 
challenged at Capernaum* for this payment, He directed 
Peter to give the stater^ or two didrachmas, for them both. 
This circumstance also enables us to fix the exact date 
of this event. For annually, on the 1st of Adar (the 
month before the Passover), proclamation was made through- 
out the country by messengers sent from Jerusalem of the 

1 Shek. iv. 

2 Matt, xxiii. 14. On the other hand, there are not a few passages in the 
Mishnah inveighing against vows, and showing how absolution from them may be 
obtained. A full treatment of the subject belongs to Jewish antiquities and 
Rabbinical jurisprudence. 

3 The subject of *' Vows " will be again and more fully treated in a subsequent 
chapter, * Matt. xvii. 24. 



48 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

approaching Temple tribute. On the 15th of Adar the 
money-changers opened stalls throughout the country to 
change the various coins, which Jewish residents at home or 
settlers abroad might bring, into the ancient money of Israel. 
For custom had it that nothing but the regular half-shekel of 
the sanctuary could be received at the treasury. On the 25th 
of Adar business was only transacted within the precincts of 
Jerusalem and of the Temple, and after that date those who 
had refused to pay the impost could be proceeded against at 
law, and their goods distrained,^ the only exception being in 
favour of priests, and that " for the sake of peace," that is, lest 
their office should come in disrepute. From heathens or 
Samaritans no tribute money was to be received, the general 
rule in reference to all their offerings being this : *' A votive 
and a free-will offering they receive at their hands ; but what- 
ever is not either a votive or a free-will offering (does not come 
under either category) is not received at their hands." In 
support, Ezra iv. 3 was quoted.^ The law also fixed the rate 
of discount which the money-changers were allowed to charge 
those who procured from them the Temple coin, perhaps to 
obviate suspicion of, or temptation to usury — a sin regarded 
as one of the most heinous civil offences. The total sum 
derived annually from the Temple tribute has been computed 
at about ;£"76,ooo.^ As the bankers were allowed to charge a 
silver meah, or about one-fourth of a denar* (2d.) on every 
half-shekel, their profits must have amounted to nearly 
;^9,5oo, or, deducting a small sum for exceptional cases, in 

» Shek. i. 3. 2 shek. i. 5. 3 gee Winer, ReaUWbrterb. ii. 589. 

* Ersch's Encycl. (Art. Juden, p. 31) computes it at one-fifth; Zunz {Zur 
Gesch, u. Litt,y p. 539) at one- third of a denar. We have adopted the view of 
Winer, 



Temple Order, Revenues, and Music. 49 

which the meah was not to be charged/ say about ^9,000 — 
a very large sum, considering the value of money in a 
country where a labourer received a denar (8d.) for a day's 
work,2 and the ^* good Samaritan " left only two denars 
(is. 4d.) in the inn for the keep of the sick man.^ It must 
therefore have been a very powerful interest which Jesus 
attacked, when in the Court of the Temple He '' poured out 
the changers* money, and overthrew the tables,"* while at 
the same time He placed Himself in direct antagonism to the 
sanctioned arrangements of the Sanhedrim, whom He virtually 
charged with profanity. 

It had only been about a century before, during the reign of 
Salome-Alexandra (about "jZ B.C.), that the Pharisaical party, 
being then in power, had carried an enactment by which the 
Temple tribute was to be enforced at law. It need scarcely 
be said that for this there was not the slightest Scriptural 
warrant. Indeed, the Old Testament nowhere provided legal 
means for enforcing any payment for religious purposes. 
The law stated what was due, but left its observance to 
the piety of the people, so that alike the provision for the 
Temple and for the priesthood must have varied with the 
religious state of the nation.^ But, irrespective of this, it is 
matter of doubt whether the half-shekel had ever been in- 
tended as an annual payment.^ Its first enactment was under 
exceptional circumstances,^ and the mode in which, as we are 
informed, a similar collection was made during the reign of 
Joash, suggests the question whether the original institution by 

1 These are mentioned in Shek. i. 7. Our deduction is very liberal. 
* Matt. XX. 2. 3 Luke. x. 35. ^ John ii. 15. ^ Mai. iii. 8-10. 

® See Michaelis, Mas. Recki^ vol. iii. pp. 150, etc, and Saalschiitz, Das Mos, 
Recht^ p. 292. "^ Ex. XXX. 12. 



50 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

Moses was not treated rather as affording a precedent than as 
laying down a binding rule.^ At the time of Nehemiah^ we 
read only of a self-imposed " ordinance," and at the rate of 
a third, not a half-shekel. But long before the coming of 
Christ very different views prevailed. *^ The dispersed abroad " 
regarded the Temple as the one bond of their national as well 
as their religious life. Patriotism and religion swelled their 
gifts, which far exceeded the legal dues. Gradually they came 
to regard the Temple tribute as, in the literal sense of the 
words, "a ransom for their souls." ^ So many were the givers 
and so large their gifts that they were always first brought to 
certain central places, whence the most honourable of their 
number carried them as "sacred ambassadors " to Jerusalem, 
The richest contributions came from those crowded Jewish 
settlements in Mesopotamia and Babylon, to which "the dis- 
persed " had originally been transported. Here special trea- 
suries for their reception had been built in the cities of Nisibis 
and Nehardea, whence a large armed escort annually accompa- 
nied the " ambassadors *^ to Palestine. Similarly, Asia Minor, 
which at one time contributed nearly ;£'8,ooo a year, had its 
central collecting places. In the Temple these moneys were 
emptied into three large chests, which were opened with 
certain formalities at each of the three great feasts. Accord- 
ing to tradition these three chests held three seahs each (the 
seah =5 I peck i pint), so that on the three occasions of their 
opening twenty-seven seahs of coin were taken. 

The Temple revenues were in the first place devoted to 

the purchase of all public sacrifices, that is, those offered in the 

name of the whole congregation of Israel, such as the morning 

and evening sacrifices, the festive sacrifices, etc. This pay- 

1 2 Chron. xxiv. 6-1 1. ^ Neh. x, 32-34* 3 £x. xxx. 12. 



Temple Order, Revemies, and Music. 51 

ment had been one of the points in controversy between the 
Pharisees and the Sadducees. So great importance was 
attached to it, that all Israel should appear represented in 
the purchase of the public sacrifices, that when the three 
chests were emptied they took expressly from one " for the 
land of Israel/' from another " for the neighbouring lands '* 
(that is, for the Jews there resident), and from the third '' for 
distant lands." Besides, the Temple treasury defrayed all 
else necessary for the services of the sanctuary ; all Temple 
repairs, and the salaries of a large staff of regular officials, 
such as those who prepared the shew-bread and the incense ; 
who saw to the correctness of the copies of the law used 
in the synagogues ; who examined into the levitical fitness 
of sacrifices; who instructed the priests in their various duties ;^ 
who made the curtains, etc., — not omitting, according to their 
own testimony, the fees of the Rabbis. And after all this 
lavish expenditure there was not only enough to pay for the 
repairs of the city-walls, the roads, and public buildings, etc., 
about Jerusalem, but sufficient to accumulate immense wealth 
in the treasury ! 

To the wealth and splendour of the Temple corresponded 
the character of its services. The most important of these, 
next to the sacrificial rites, was the hymnody of the 
sanctuary. We can conceive what it must have been in the 
days of David and of Solomon. But even in New Testament 
times it was such that St. John could find no more adequate 
imagery to portray heavenly realities and the final triumph 
of the Church than that taken from the service of praise in 
the Temple. Thus, when first *' the twenty-four elders," repre- 
senting the chiefs of the twenty-four courses of the priest- 

1 Ketuv, cvi. I. 



52 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

hood, and afterwards the 144,000, representing redeemed Israel 
in its fulness (12 x 12,000), sing '^ the new song" — the former 
in heaven, the latter on Mount Zion — they appear, just as in 
the Temple services, as "harpers, harping with their harps." ^ 
Possibly there may also be an analogy between the ti-me 
when these " harpers " are introduced and the period in the 
Temple-service when the music began — ^just as the joyous; 
drink-ofifering was poured out. There is yet a third reference 
in the Book of Revelation to ''the harps of God,"^ with most 
pointed allusion, not to the ordinary, but to the Sabbath 
services in the Temple. In this case "the harpers" are 
all they " that had gotten the victory over the beast." The 
church, which has come out of great tribulation, stands vic- 
torious " on the sea of glass ; " and the saints, " having the 
harps of God," sing " the song of Moses, the servant of God." 
It is the Sabbath of the church ; and as on the Sabbath, 
besides the psalm for the day^ at the ordinary sacrifice, they 
sung at the additional Sabbatic sacrifice,* in the morning, the 
Song of Moses, in Deut. xxxii., and in the evening that in 
Ex. XV., so the victorious church celebrates her true sabbath 
of rest by singing this same " Song of Moses and of the Lamb," 
only in language that expresses the fullest meaning of the 
Sabbath songs in the Temple. 

Properly speaking, the real service of praise in the Temple 
was only with the voice. This is often laid down as a prin- 
ciple by the Rabbis. What instrumental music there was, 
served only to accompany and sustain the song. Accord- 
ingly, none other than Levites might act as choristers, while 
other distinguished Israelites were allowed to take part in the 

* Rev. V. 8 ; xiv. 2, 3. ^ R^y^ xv. 2. ' Psa. xcii. 

* Numb, xxviii. 9, 10. 



Temple Order, Revemies, and Mtcsic. 53 

instrumental music. The blasts of the trumpets, blown by 
priests only, formed — at least in the second Temple — no part 
of the instrumental music of the service, but were intended 
for quite different purposes. Even the posture of the per- 
formers showed this, for while the Levites stood at their desks 
facing towards the sanctuary, or westwards, the priests, with 
their silver trumpets, stood exactly in the opposite direction, 
on the west side of the rise of the altar, by the '' table of the 
fat," and looking eastwards or down the courts. On ordinary 
days the priests blew seven times, each time three blasts — a 
short sound, an alarm, and again a sharp short sound (Thekiah, 
Theruah, and Thekiah),^ or, as the Rabbis express it, ''An 
alarm in the midst and a plain note before and after it.'* 
According to tradition, they were intended symibolically to 
proclaim the kingdom of God, Divine Providence, and the final 
judgment. The first three blasts were blown when the great 
gates of the Temple — especially that of Nicanor — were opened. 
Then, when the drink-offering was poured out, the Levites 
sung the psalm of the day in three sections. After each sec- 
tion there was a pause, when the priests blew three blasts, and 
the people w^orshipped. This was the practice at the evening, 
as at the morning sacrifice. On the eve of the Sabbath a 
threefold blast of the priests' trumpets summoned the people, 

1 Inferring from the present usage in the Synagogue, Saalschiitz {Gesch. d. Musik 
bei d, Hebr.) has thus marked them — 



The Thekiah : /k (* ! S~5 " 



and the Theruah j 



\j ^ -^ -0- S' -m- 




54 ^riie Temple, its Ministry and Sej^vices. 

far as the sound was carried over the city, to prepare for 
the holy day, while another threefold blast announced its 
actual commencement. On Sabbaths, when, besides the ordi- 
nary, an additional sacrifice was brought, and the " Song 
of Moses " sung — not the whole every Sabbath, but divided 
in six parts, one for every Sabbath, — the priests sounded 
their trumpets additional three times in the pauses of the 
Sabbath psalm. ^ 

The music of the Temple owed its origin to David, who was 
not only a poet and a musical composer, but who also invented 
musical instruments,^ especially the ten-stringed Nevel or lute.^ 
From the Book of Chronicles we know how fully this part of 
the service was cultivated, although the statement of Josephus,^ 
that Solomon had provided forty thousand harps and lutes, 
and two hundred thousand silver trumpets, is evidently a gross 
exaggeration. The Rabbis enumerate thirty-six different 
instruments, of which only fifteen are mentioned in the Bible, 
and of these five in the Pentateuch. As in early Jewish poetry 
there was neither definite and continued metre (in the modern 
sense), nor regular and premeditated rhyme, so there was 
neither musical notation, nor yet any artificial harmony. The 
melody was simple, sweet, and sung in unison to the accom- 
paniment of instrumental music. Only one pair of brass 
cymbals were allowed to be used.^ But this ** sounding brass" 
and '* tinkling cymbal '' formed no part of the Temple music 
itself, and served only as the signal to begin that part of the 

1 All these regulations are stated in Mishnah, Succah, v. 5, Further details 
about Temple hymns and Temple music are given in the description of the daily 
service and in that of the Sabbath and the various feast-days. 

2 Amosvi. 5 ; I Chron. xxiii. 5. ^ Psa. xxxiii. 2 ; cxiiv. 9. * Ant. viii. 3, 8. 

^ For particulars on all points connected with Jewish art, poetry, and science, I 
must refer to my History of the yezvish Nation. 



Temple Order, RevenueSy and Music. 55 

service. To this the apostle seems to refer when, in i Cor. 
xiii. I, he compares the gift of "tongues" to the sign or 
signal by which the real music of the Temple was introduced. 
That music was chiefly sustained by the harp (Kinnor) and 
the lute (Nevel). Of the latter (which was probably used 
for solos) not less than two nor more than six were to be in 
the Temple orchestra ; of the former, or harp, as many as 
possible, but never less than nine. There were, of course, 
several varieties both of the Nevel and the Kinnor. The 
chief difference between these two kinds of stringed instru- 
ments lay in this, that in the Nevel (lute or guitar) the strings 
were drawn over the sounding-board, while in the Kinnor 
they stood out free, as in our harps.^ Of wind-instruments 
we know that, besides their silver trumpets, the priests also 
blew the Shophar or horn, notably at the new moon, on the 
Feast of the New Year,^ and to proclaim the Year of Jubilee,^ 
which, indeed, thence derived its name. Originally the Sho- 
phar was probably a ram's horn,^ but afterwards it was also 
made of metal. The Shophar was chiefly used for its loud 
and far-sounding tones.^ At the Feast of the New Year, one 
priest with a Shophar was placed between those who blew 
the trumpets ; while on fast days a priest with a Shophar 
stood on each side of them— the tones of the Shophar being 
prolonged beyond those of the trumpets. In the synagogues 
out of Jerusalem the Shophar alone was blown at the New 
Year, and. on fast-days only trumpets. 

The flute (or reed pipe) was played in the Temple on twelve 

1 The opposite is the generally received opinion. But see the article ** Music," 
by Leyrer, in Herzog's Encycl. 

2 Psa. Ixxxi. 3. ^ Lev. xxv. 9. * Jos., Ant, v. 5, 6. 
* Ex. xix. 16, 19 ; XX. 18; Isa. Iviii. I. 



56 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

special festivities.^ These were : the day of killing the first, and 
that of killing the second Passover, the first day of unleavened 
bread, Pentecost, and the eiglit days of the Feast of Taber- 
nacles. Quite in accordance with the social character of these 
feasts, the flute was also used by the festive pilgrim-bands on 
their journey to Jerusalem, to accompany '^ the Psalms of 
Degrees," or rather of " Ascent," ^ sung on such occasions. 
It was also customary to play it at marriage feasts and at 
funerals ; ^ for according to Rabbinical law every Jew was 
bound to provide at least two flutes and one mourning woman 
at the funeral of his wife. In the Temple, not less than two 
nor more than twelve flutes were allowed, and the melody was 
on such occasions to close with the notes of one flute alone. 
Lastly, we have sufficient evidence that there was a kind of 
organ used in the Temple (the Magrephah), but whether merely 
for giving signals or not, cannot be clearly determined. 

As already stated, the service of praise was mainly sustained 
by the human voice. A good voice was the one qualification 
needful for a Levite. In the second Temple female singers 
seem at one time to have been employed.* In the Temple of 
Herod their place was supplied by Levite boys. Nor did the 
worshippers any more take part in the praise, except by a 
responsive Amen. It was otherwise in the first Temple, as we 
gather from i Chron. xvi. 36, from the allusion in Jer. xxxiii. 
II, and also from such Psalms as xxvi. 12 ; Ixviii. 26. At the 
laying of the foundation of the second Temple, and at the 
dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the singing seems to have 

* The flute was used in Alexandria to accompany the hymns at the love feasts 
of the early Christians, up to the year 190, when Clement of Alexandria introduced 
the harp in its place. See Leyrer u. s, 

2 Isa. XXX 29. 3 Matt. ix. 23. * Ezra ii. 65 ; Neh. vii. 67. 



Temple Order ^ Revenues^ and Mtcsic. 57 

been antiphonal, or in responses/ the two choirs afterwards 
apparently combining, and singing in unison in the Temple 
itself. Something of the same kind was probably also the 
practice in the first Temple. What the melodies were to 
which the Psalms had been sung, it is, unfortunately, now 
impossible to ascertain. Some of the music still used in the 
synagogue must date from those times, and there is no rea- 
son to doubt that in the so-called Gregorian tones we have 
also preserved to us a close approximation to the ancient 
hymnody of the Temple, though certainly not without con- 
siderable alterations. 

But how solemn must have been the scene when, at the dedi- 
cation of Solomon's Temple during the service of praise, " the 
hpuse was filled with a cloud, even the house of Jehovah ; so 
that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the 
cloud : for the glory of Jehovah had filled the house of God T'^ 
Such music, and such responsive singing, might well serve, in 
the Book of Revelation, as imagery of heavenly realities,^ 
especially in that description of the final act of worship in 
Rev. xiv. i~5, where at the close of their antiphony the two 
choirs combine, as at the dedication of the second Temple, to 
join in this grand unison, '* Alleluia : for the Lord God omni- 
potent reigneth."^ 

^ Ezra iii. lo, ii ; Neh. xiL 27, 40. • 2 Chron. v. 13, I4. 

^ Rev. iv. 8, II ; V. 9, 12; viL 10-12, 
* Rev. xix, 6, 7 ; comp. also Rev. v. 13, 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE OFFICIATING PRIESTHOOD. 

**And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same 
sacrifices, which can never take away sins/' — Heb. x. ii. 

AMONG the most interesting glimpses of early life in the 
church is that afforded by a small piece of rapidly- 
drawn scenery which presents to our view "a great company 
of the priests," "obedient to the faith." ^ We seem to be 
carried back in imagination to the time when Levi remained 
faithful amidst the general spiritual defection,^ and then 
through the long vista of devout ministering priests to reach 
the fulfilment of this saying of Malachi — part admonition, 
and part prophecy : " For the priest's lips should keep know;- 
ledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth : for he is 
the messenger of the Lord of hosts." ^ We can picture to 
ourselves how they who ministered in holy things would at 
eventide, when the Temple was deserted of its worshippers, 
gather to speak of the spiritual meaning of the services, 
and to consider the wonderful things which had taken place 
in Jerusalem, as some alleged, in fulfilment of those very 

* Acts vi. 7. * Ex. xxxii. 26. * Malachi ii. 7, 



The Officiating Priesthood. 59 

types that formed the essence of their office and ministry. 
"For this thing was not done in a corner.'* The trial of 
Jesus, His condemnation by the Sanhedrim, and His being 
delivered up to the Gentiles, must have formed the theme 
of frequent and anxious discussion in the Temple. Were 
not their own chief priests implicated in the matter } Did 
not Judas on that fatal day rush into the Temple, and wildly 
cast the *' price of blood '* into the " treasury ? " On the other 
hand, was not one of the principal priests and a member of 
the priestly council, Joseph of Arimathea, an adherent of 
Christ } Did not the Sanhedrist Nicodemus adopt the same 
views, and even Gamaliel advise caution "i Besides, in the 
"porches" of the Temple, especially in that of Solomon, 
"a notable miracle'* had been done in "that Name," and 
there also its all-prevailing power was daily proclaimed. It 
specially behoved the priesthood to inquire well into the 
matter ; and the Temple seemed the most appropriate place 
for its discussion. 

The number of priests to^be found at all times in Jerusalem 
must have been very great, and Ophel a densely inhabited 
quarter. According to Jewish tradition, half of each of the 
twenty- four "courses," into which the priesthood were divided, 
were permanently resident in Jerusalem ; the rest scattered 
over the land. It is added, that about one half of the latter 
had settled in Jericho, and were in the habit of supplying 
the needful support to their brethren while officiating in 
Jerusalem. Of course such statements must not be taken 
literally, though no doubt they are substantially correct. 
When a " course " was on duty, all its members were bound 
to appear in the Temple. Those who stayed away, with 
such " representatives of the people " (or " stationary men '*) 



6o The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

as, like them, had been prevented from "going up" to 
Jerusalem in their turn, had to meet in the synagogues 
of their district to pray and to fast each day of their 
week of service, except on the sixth, the seventh, and 
the first — that is, neither on the Sabbath, nor on the days 
preceding and succeeding it, as the "joy" attaching to 
the Sabbath rendered a fast immediately before or after it 
inappropriate. 

It need scarcely be said, that everything connected with 
the priesthood was intended to be symbolical and typical 
— the office itself, its functions, even its dress and outward 
support. The fundamental design of Israel itself was to be 
unto Jehovah "a kingdom of priests and an holy nation."^ 
This, however, could only be realised in "the fulness of 
time." At the very outset there was the barrier of sin ; and 
in order to gain admittance to the ranks of Israel, when " the 
sum of the children of Israel was taken after their number," 
every man had to give the half-shekel, which in after times 
became the regular Temple contribution, as "a ransom 
(covering) for his soul unto Jehovah."^ But even so Israel 
was sinful, and could only approach Jehovah in the way 
which Himself opened, and in the manner which He ap- 
pointed. Direct choice and appointment by God were the 
conditions alike of the priesthood, of sacrifices, feasts, and 
of every detail of service. The fundamental ideas which 
underlay all and connected it into a harmonious whole, were 
reconciliaiion and mediation : the one expressed by typically 
atoning sacrifices, the other by a typically intervening priest- 
hood. Even the Hebrew term for priest {Cohen) denotes in 
its root-meaning " one who stands up for another, and 

* Ex. xix. 5, 6. * Ex. XXX. 12, 13. 



The Officiati7ig Priesthood. 6 1 

mediates in his cause." ^ For this purpose God chose the 
tribe of Leviy and out of it again the family of Aaro7ty on 
whom He bestowed the "priest^s office as a gift."^ But 
the whole characteristics and the functions of the priesthood 
centred in the persoii of the high-priest. In accordance with 
their Divine "calling"^ was the special and exceptional pro- 
vision made for the support of the priesthood. Its principle 
was thus expressed : " I am thy part and thine inheritance 
among the children of Israel ; '* and its joyousness, when 
realised in its full meaning and application, found vent in 
such words as Psa. xvi. 5, 6: "Jehovah is the portion of 
mine inheritance and of my cup : Thou maintainest my lot. 
The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places ; yea, I have 
a goodly heritage." 

But there was yet another idea to be expressed by the 
priesthood. The object of reconciliation was holiness, Israel 
was to be " a holy nation " — reconciled through the '^ sprink- 
ling of blood ; " brought near to, and kept in fellowship with 
God by that means. The priesthood, as the representative 
offerers of that blood and mediators of the people, were also to 
show forth the " holiness " of Israel. Everyone knows how 
this was symbolised by the gold-plate which the high-priest 
wore on^his forehead, and which bore the words : '' Holiness 
unto Jehovah." But though the high-priest in this, as in 
every other respect, was the fullest embodiment of the func- 
tions and the object of the priesthood, the same truth was 

^ This root-meaning (through the Arabic) of the Hebrew word for priest, as 
one intervening, explains its occasional though very rare application to others than 
priests, as, for example, to the sons of David (2 Sam. viii. 18), a mode of expres- 
sion which is thus correctly paraphrased in I Chron. xviii. 17 : " And the sons of 
David were at the hand of the king." 

2 Numb, xviii. 7. * Heb. v. 4. 



62 The Te7nple, its Ministry and Services. 

also otherwise shown forth. The bodily qualifications required 
in the priesthood, the kind of defilements which would tem- 
porarily or wholly interrupt their functions, their mode of 
ordination^ and even every portion, material, and colour of 
their distinctive dress were all intended to express in a sym- 
bolical manner this characteristic of holiness. In all these 
respects there was a difference between Israel and the tribe 
of Levi ; between the tribe of Levi and the family of Aaron ; 
and, finally, between an ordinary priest and the high-priest, 
who most fully typified our Great High-priest, in whom all 
these symbols have found their reality. 

This much it seemed necessary to state for the general 
understanding of the matter. Full details belong to the 
exposition of the meaning and object of the Levitical priest- 
hood, as instituted by God, while our present task rather is 
to trace its further development to what it was at the time 
when Jesus was in the Temple. The first peculiarity of 
post-Mosaic times which we here meet, is the arrangement 
of the priesthood into " twenty-four courses," which un- 
doubtedly dates from the times of David. But Jewish 
tradition would make it even much older. For, according 
to the Talmud, it should be traced up to Moses, who is 
variously supposed to have arranged the sons of Aaron 
into eight or else sixteen courses (four, or else eight, of 
Eleazar ; and the other four, or else eight, of Ithamar), to 
which, on the one supposition, Samuel and David each added 
other eight "courses," or, on the other, Samuel and David, 
in conjunction, the eight needed to make up the twenty- 
four mentioned in I Chron. xxiv. It need scarcely be told 
that, like many similar statements, this also is simply an 
attempt to trace up every arrangement to the fountain- 



The Officiating Priesthood. 63 

head of Jewish history, in order to establish its absolute 
authority.^ 

The institution of David and of Solomon continued till 
the Babylonish captivity. Thence, however, only four out 
of the twenty-four " courses " returned : those of Jedaiah, 
Immer, Pashur, and Harim,^ the course of Jedaiah" being 
placed first because it was of the high-priest's family, " of 
the house of Jeshua," '' the son of Jozadak." ^ To restore 
the original number, each of these four families was directed 
to draw five lots for those which had not returned, so as to 
form once more twenty-four courses, which were to bear the 
ancient names. Thus, for example, Zacharias, the father of 
John the Baptist, did not really belong to the family of 
Abijah,^ which had not returned from Babylon, but to the 
'* course of Abia," which had been formed out of some other 
family, and only bore the ancient name.^ Like the priests, 
the Levites had at the time of King David been arranged 
into twenty-four "courses," which were to act as "priests' 
assistants,"^ as "singers and musicians,"^ as "gate-keepers 
and guards,"^ and as "officers and judges." Of these various 
classes, that of the " priests' assistants " was by far the most 
numerous,^ and to them the charge of the Temple had been 
committed in subordination to the priests. It had been their 
duty to look after the sacred vestments and vessels ; the 

* Curiously enough, here also the analogy between Rabbinism and Roman 
Catholicism holds good. Each claims for its teaching and practices the sio-called 
principle of catholicity — ** semper, ubique, ab omnibus" ("always, everywhere, 
by all "), and each invents the most curious historical fables in support of At ! 

2 Ezra ii. 36, 37, 38, 39. ^ Ezra iii. 2 ; Hagg. i. I ; I Chron. vi. 1 5, 

* I Chron. xxiv. 10. ^ Luke i. 5. ^ I Chron. xxiii. 4, 2Si 
' I Chron. xxv. 6. ^ i Chron. xxvi. 6 and following. 

* Apparently it numbered 24,cxx>, out of a total of 38,000 Levites. 



^4 'I^^^ Te^nple, its Ministry and Services. 

store-houses and their contents ; and the preparation of the 
shewbread, of the meat-offerings, of the spices, etc. They 
were also generally to assist the priests in their work, to see 
to the cleaning of the sanctuary, and to take charge of the 
treasuries.^ Of course these services, as also those of the 
singers and musicians, and of the porters and guards, were 
retained in the Temple of Herod. But for the employment 
of Levites as ''officers and judges" there was no further room, 
not only because such judicial functions as still remained to 
the Jews were in the hands of the Sanhedrim and its sub- 
ordinate authorities, but also because in general the ranks of 
the Levites were so thinned. In point of fact, while no less 
than 4,289 priests had returned from Babylon, the number 
of Levites was under 400,^ of whom only 74 were " priests' 
assistants." To this the next immigration, under Ezra, added 
only 38, and that though the Levites had been specially 
searched for.^ According to tradition, Ezra punished them 
by deprivmg them of their tithes. The gap in their number 
was filled up by 220 Nethinim,* literally, "given ones," 
probably originally strangers and captives,^ as in all likeli- 
hood the Gibeonites had been the first "Nethinim."^ Though 
the Nethinim, like the Levites and priests, were freed from 
all taxation,'^ and perhaps also from military service,^ the 
Rabbinists held them in the lowest repute — beneath a 
bastard, though above a proselyte,- — forbade their intermarry- 

1 I Chron. xxiii. 28-32. • Ezra ii. 40-42 ; Nehemiah vii. 43-45. 

8 Ezra viii. 15, 18, 19. * Ezra viii. 20. 

5 This is also confirmed by their foreign names (Ezra ii. 43-58). The total 
number of Nethinim who returned from Babylon was 612 — 392 with Zerubbabel 
(Ezra ii. 58 ; Nehemiah vii. 60), and 220 with Ezra (Ezra viii. 20.) 

* Josh. ix. 21, 23, 27. "^ Ezra vii. 24. ^ Jqs^ ^^^^ ijj^ j2; iv. 4, 3. 



The Officiating Priesthood. 65, 

ing with Israelites, and declared them incapable of proper 
membership in the congregation.^ 

The duties of priests and Levites in the Temple may 
be gathered from Scripture, and will be further explained 
in the course of our inquiries. Generally, it may here be 
stated that on the Levites devolved the Temple-police, the 
guard of the gates, and the duty of keeping everything 
about the sanctuary clean and bright. But as at night the 
priests kept watch about the innermost places of the Temple, 
so they also opened and closed all the inner gates, while the 
Levites discharged this duty in reference to the outer gates, 
vhich led upon the Temple Mount (or Court of the Gentiles), 
md to the "Beautiful Gate," which formed the principal 
entrance into the *' Court of the Women.*' The laws of Leviti- 
cal cleanness, as explained by the Rabbis, were most rigidly 
enforced upon worshippers and priests. If a leper, or any 
other who was "defiled," had ventured into the sanctuary 
itself, or any priest officiated in a state of " uncleanness," he 
would, if discovered, be dragged out and killed, without form 
of process, by " the rebels' beating." Minor punishments were 
awarded to those guilty of smaller offences of the same kind. 
The Sabbath-rest was strictly enforced, so far as consistent 
with the necessary duties of the Temple service. But the 
latter superseded the Sabbath law^ and defilement on account 
of death.^ If the time for offering a sacrifice was not fixed, 
so that it might be brought on one day as well as another, then 
the service did not supersede either the Sabbath or defilement 
on account of death. But where the time was unalterably 
fixed, there the higher duty of obedience to a direct command 

* So in many passages of the Talmud. 2 Matt. xii. 5. 

* See Maimonides, Yad ha Chas, Biath. Mikd. iv. 9, etc. 



66 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

came in to supersede alike the Sabbath and this one (but only 
this one) ground of defilement. The same principle applied 
to worshippers as well as priests. 

Each " course " of priests and of Levites (as has already 
been stated) came on duty for a week, from one Sabbath to 
another. The service of the week was subdivided among the 
various families which constituted a "course;" so that if it 
consisted of five "houses of fathers," three served each one 
day, and two each two days ; if of six families, five served 
each one day, and one two days ; if of eight families, six 
served each one day, and the other two in conjunction on 
one day ; or, lastly, if of nine families, five served each one 
day, and the other four took it two in conjunction for two 
days.^ These divisions and arrangements were made by 
*' the chiefs " or " heads of the houses of their fathers." 
On Sabbaths the whole " course " was on duty ; on feast 
days any priest might come up and join in the ministra- 
tions of the sanctuary ; and at the Feast of Tabernacles all 
the twenty-four courses were bound to be present and officiate. 
While actually engaged on service in the Temple, the priests 
were not allowed to drink wine, either by day or by night. 
The other " families " or " houses " also of the " course " who 
were in attendance at Jerusalem, though not on actual duty, 
were, during their week of ministry, prohibited the use of wine, 
except at night, because they might have to be called in to assist 
their brethren of the officiating " family," which they could 
not do if they had partaken of strong drink. The law even 
made (a somewhat curious) provision to secure that the priests 

^ Some have imagined that every "course" was arranged into six, or else 
into seven ** families," but the view in the text expresses most likely the correct 
tradition. 



The Officiating Priesthood. 67 

should come up to Jerusalem properly trimmed, washed, and 
attired, so as to secure the decorum of the service.^ 

It would be difficult to conceive arrangements more 
thoroughly or consistently opposed to what are commonly 
called " priestly pretensions," than those of the Old Testament. 
The fundamental principle, laid down at the outset, that all 
Israel were "a kingdom of priests,"^ made the priesthood 
only representatives of the people. Their income, which 
even under the most favourable circumstances must have 
been moderate, was, as we have seen, dependent on the 
varying religious state of the nation, since no law existed 
by which either the payment of tithes or any other offerings 
could be enforced. How Httle power or influence, compara- 
tively speaking, the priesthood wielded, is sufficiently known 
from Jewish history. Out of actual service neither the 
priests nor even the high- priest wore a distinctive dress,^ 
and though a number of civil restrictions were laid on priests, 
there were few corresponding advantages. It is indeed true 
that alliances with distinguished priestly families were eagerly 
sought, and that during the troubled period of Syrian domi- 
nation the high-priest for a time held civil as well as reli- 
gious rule. But the latter advantage was dearly bought, both 
as regarded the priests and the nation. Nor must we forget 
the powerful controlling influence which Rabbinism exercised. 
Its tendency, which must never be lost sight of in the study 
of the state of Palestine at the time of our Lord, was steadily 
against all privileges other than those gained by traditionary 
learning and theological ingenuity. The Pharisee, or, rather, 
the man learned in the traditional law, was everything both 

^ Comp. Relandus, Antiq.^ p. 169. ^ Ex. xix. 5> 6. 

* Comp. Acts xxiii. 5 ; see also chap. vii. 



68 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

before God and before man ; "but this people, who knoweth not 
the law," were " cursed," plebeians, country people, unworthy 
of any regard or attention. Rabbinism applied these principles 
even in reference to the priesthood. It divided all priests into 
'' learned " and " unlettered," and excluded the latter from some 
of the privileges of their own order. Thus there were certain 
priestly dues which the people might at will give to any 
priest they chose. But from some of them the '' unlettered " 
priests were debarred, on the ostensible ground that in their 
ignorance they might have partaken of them in a state of 
Levitical uncleanness, and so committed mortal sin. 

In general, the priests had to undergo a course of instruc- 
tion, and were examined before being allowed to officiate. 
Similarly, they were subject to the ordinary tribunals, com- 
posed of men learned in the law, without regard to their 
descent from one or another tribe. The ordained " rulers " 
of the synagogues, the teachers of the people, the leaders of 
their devotions, and all other officials were not necessarily 
" priests," but simply chosen for their learning and fitness. 
Any one whom the " elders " or '' rulers " deemed qualified 
for it mi^ht, at their "request, address to the people on the 
Sabbath a "word of exhortation." Even the high-priest him- 
self was answerable to the Sanhedrim. It is distinctly stated, 
that " if he committed an ofience which by the law deserved 
whipping, the Great Sanhedrim whipt him, and then had him 
restored again to his office." Every year a kind of ecclesias- 
tical council was appointed to instruct him in his duties for 
the Day of Atonement, " in case he were not learned," or, at 
any rate, to see to it that he knew and remembered them. 
Nay, the principle was broadly laid down — that " a scholar, 
diough he were a bastard, was of far higher value than an 



The Officiating Priesthood. 69 

unlearned high-priest." Ff, besides all this, it is remembered 
how the political influence of the high-priest had decayed in 
the days of Herod, and how frequently the occupants of that 
office changed, through the caprice of the rulers or through 
bribery, the state of public feeling will be readily understood. 

At the same time, it must be admitted, that generally 
speaking the high-priest would, of necessity, wield very con- 
siderable influence, and that, ordinarily, those who held the 
sacred office were not only "lettered," but members of the 
Sanhedrim. According to Jewish tradition, the high-priest 
ought, in every respect, to excel all other priests, and if he 
were poor, the rest were to contribute, so as to secure him an 
independent fortune. Certain marks of outward respect were 
also shown him. When he entered the Temple he was accom- 
panied by three persons — one walking at each side, the third 
behind him. He might, without being appointed to it, 
officiate in any part of the Temple services ; he had certain 
exceptional rights ; and he possessed a house in the Temple, 
where he lived by day, retiring only at night to his own home, 
which must be within Jerusalem, and to which he was 
escorted by the people after the solemnities of the Day of 
Atonement, which devolved almost exclusively upon him. 

Originally the office of high-priest was regarded as being 
held for life and hereditary ;^ but the troubles of later 
times made it a matter of cabal, crime, or bribery. Without 
here entering into the complicated question of the succession 
to the high-priesthood, the following may be quoted from the 
Tal nud,^ without, of course, guaranteeing its absolute accu- 
racy : " In the first Temple,^ the high-priests served, the son 

'Accordingto the Rabbis, he was appointed by the Sanhedrim. ^ Talmud Jer. loina, I. 
* This, of course, does not include the period before the first Temple was built. 



fo The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

succeeding the father, and they were eighteen in number. 
But in the second Temple they got the high-priesthood for 
money ; and there are who say they destroyed each other by 
witchcraft, so that some reckon 80 high-priests during' that 
period, others 81, others 82, 83, 84, and even 85/* The Rabbis 
enumerate 18 high-priests during the first Temple; Lightfoot 
counts 53 from the return from Babylon to Matthias, when the 
last war of the Jews began ; while Relandius reckons 57. 
But there is both difficulty and confusion amid the constant 
changes at the last. 

There was not any fixed age for entering on the office of 
high-priest, any more than on that of an ordinary priest. 
The Talmudists put it down at twenty years. But the un- 
happy descendant of the Maccabees, Aristobulus, was only 
sixteen years of age when his beauty, as he officiated as high- 
priest in the Temple, roused the jealousy of Herod, and procured 
his death. The entrance of the Levites is fixed, in the sacred 
text, at thirty during the wilderness period, and after that, when 
the work would require less bodily strength, but a larger number 
of ministers, at twenty-five years of age.^ 

No special disqualifications for the Levitical office existed, 
though* the Rabbis insist that a good voice was absolutely 
necessary. It was otherwise with the priest's office. The first 
inquiry instituted by the Sanhedrim, who for the purpose sat 
daily in '* the Hall of Polished Stones," was into the genealog}^ 
of a candidate. Certain genealogies were deemed authoritative. 
Thus, " if his father's name were inscribed in the archives of 
Jeshana at Zipporim, no further inquiry was made." If he failed 
to satisfy the court about his perfect legitimacy, the candidate 

* It is thus we reconcile Numbers iv. 3 with viii. 24, 25. In point of fact, these 
two reasons are expressly mentioned in i Chron. xxiii. 24-27, as influencing 
David still further to lower the age of entrance to twenty. 



The Officiating Priesthood, 71 

was dressed and veiled in black, and permanently removed. 
If he passed that ordeal, inquiry was next made as to any 
physical defects, of which Maimonides enumerates a hundred 
and forty that permanently, and twenty-two which temporarily 
disqualified for the exercise of the priestly office. Persons 
so disqualified were, however, admitted to menial offices, such 
as in the wood-chamber, and entitled to Temple support. 
Those who had stood the twofold test were dressed in white 
raiment, and their names properly inscribed. To this pointed 
allusion is made in Revelation iii. 5, "He that overcometh, 
the same shall be clothed in white raiment ; and I will not 
blot out his name out of the book of life.'' 

Thus received, and afterwards instructed in his duties, the 
formal admission alike of the priest and of the high-priest was 
not, as of old, by anointing, but simply by investiture. For 
even the composition of the sacred oil was no longer known 
in the second Temple. They were called "high-priests by 
investiture," and regarded as of inferior rank to those " by 
anointing." As for the common priests, the Rabbis held that 
they were not anointed even in the first Temple, the rite 
which was applied to the sons of Aaron being valid also for 
their descendants. It was otherwise in the case of the high- 
priest. His investiture was continued during seven days. In 
olden days, w^hen he was anointed, the sacred oil was not only 
" poured over him," but also applied to his forehead, over the 
eyes, as tradition has it, after the form of the Greek letter X. 
The coincidence is certainly curious. This sacred oil was 
besides only used for anointing such kings as were of the 
family of David, not other Jewish monarchs, and if their 
succession had been called in question. Otherwise the royal 
dignity went, as a matter of course, by inheritance from 
father to son. The high-priests ''by investiture" had not 



72 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

any more the real Urim and Thummim (their meaning even 
being unknown), though a breast-plate, with twelve stones, 
was made and worn, in order to complete the eight sacred vest- 
ments. This was just double the number of those worn by an 
ordinary priest, viz., the linen breeches, the coat, the girdle, 
and the bonnet. To these the high-priest added other four 
distinctive articles of dress, called " golden vestments,*- 
because, unlike the robes of the ordinary priests, gold^ the 
symbol of splendour, appeared in them. They were the 
Me'il^ or robe of the ephod, wholly of "woven work," of dark 
blue colour, descending to the knees, and adorned at the hem 
by alternate blossoms of the pomegranate in blue, purple, and 
scarlet, and golden bells, the latter, according to tradition, 
seventy-two in number ; the Ephod with the breast-plate, the 
former of the four colours of the sanctuary (white, blue, purple, 
and scarlet), and inwrought with threads of gold ; the Mi^re; 
and, lastly, the Zzz, or golden frontlet. If either a priest or 
the high-priest officiated without wearing the full number of 
his vestments, his service would be invalid, as also if any- 
thing, however trifling (such, for instance, as a plaster), had 
intervened between the body and the dress of the priest. 
The material of which the four vestments of the ordinary 
priest were made was " linen " or, more accurately, ** byssus,'* 
the white shining cotton-stuff of Egypt. These two qualities 
of the byssus are specially marked as characteristic,^ and on 
them part of the symbolic meaning depended. Hence we 
read in Rev. xix. 8, " And to her " — the wife of the Lamb 
made ready — " was granted that she should be arrayed in 
byssus vestments, shining and pure ; for the byssus vestment 
is the righteousness of the saints.''^ 

* Rev. XV. 6, " clothed in pure and shining linen." * So literally. 



The Officiating Priesthood. 73 

We add some further particulars, chiefly in illustration* of 
allusions in the New Testament. The priest's " coat " was 
woven of one piece, like the seamless robe of the Saviour.^ 
As it was close-fitting, the girdle could not, strictly speaking, 
have been necessary. Besides, although the account of the 
Rabbis, that the priest's girdle was three fingers broad and 
sixteen yards long (!), is exaggerated, no doubt it really 
reached beyond the feet, and required to be throw^n over the 
shoulder during ministration. Hence its object must chiefly 
have been symbolical. In point of fact, it may be regarded 
as the most distinctive priestly vestment, since it was only 
put on during actual ministration, and put off immediately 
aftenvards. Accordingly, when in Revelation i. 13, the 
Saviour is seen "in the midst of the candlesticks," ''girt about 
the paps with a golden girdle," we are to understand by it 
that our heavenly High-Priest is there engaged in actual 
ministry for us. Similarly, the girdle is described as " about 
the paps," or (as in Rev. xv. 6) about the '' breasts," as both the 
girdle of the ordinary priest and that on the ephod which the 
high-priest w^ore were girded there, and not round the loins.^ 
Lastly, the expression " golden girdle " may bear reference to 
the circumstance that the dress peculiar of the high-priest was 
called his ''golden vestments," in contradistinction to the 
" linen vestments," w^hich he wore on the Day of Atonement. 

Of the four distinctive articles in the high-priest's dress, 
the breastplate, alike from its square form and the twelve 
jewels on it, bearing the names of the tribes, suggests 
**the city four-square," whose "foundations" are twelve 
precious stones.^ The "mitre" of the high-priest diff'ered 
from the head-gear of the ordinary priest, which was shaped 

^ John xix. 23. 2 Compare Ezek. xliv. i8. ^ Rev. xxi. 1 6, 19, 20. 



74 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

like the inverted calyx of a flower, in size and probably also 
somewhat in shape. According to liie Rabbis, it was eight 
yards high (! !). Fastened to it by two (according to the Rabbis, 
by three) ribbons oi " blue lace " was the symbol of royalty — 
the " golden plate " (or Ziz), on which, " Holiness unto Jehovah" 
was graven. This plate was only two fingers wide, and reached 
from temple to temple. Between this plate and the mitre the 
high-priest is by some supposed to have worn his phylac- 
teries. But this cannot be regarded as by any means a settled 
point. According to the distinct testimony of the Talmud,^ 
neither priests, Levites, nor the ^' stationary men " wore phy- 
lacteries during their actual service in the Temple. This is a 
strong point urged by the modern Karaite Jews against the 
traditions of the Rabbis. Can it be, that the wearing of 
phylacteries at the time of Christ was 7tot a universally 
acknowledged obligation, but rather the badge of a party } 
This would give additional force to the words in which Christ 
inveighed against those who made broad their phylacteries. 
According to Josephus, the original Ziz of Aaron still existed 
in his time, and was carried with other spoils to Rome. 
There R. Eliezer saw it in the reign of Hadrian. Thence 
we can trace it, with considerable probability, through many 
vicissitudes, to the time of Belisarius, and to Byzantium. 
From there it was taken by order of the emperor to Jeru- 
salem. What became of it afterwards is unknown ; pos- 
sibly it may still be in existence.^ It only requires to be 
added that the priests' garments, when soiled, were not 
washed, but used as wicks for the lamps in the Temple ; 

^ Zebach, xix. a. 6. See Jost, Gesch. d. yudenth. vol. ii., p. 309. 

^ V^hen Josephus speaks of a triple crown worn by the high-priest, this may have 
been introduced by the Asmoneans when they united the temporal monarchy with 
the priesthood. Compare Smith's Dictionary of the Bible^ i. 807a. 



The Officiating Priesthood. 75 

those of the high-priest were "hid away." The high-priest 
wore " a fresh suit of linen vestments " each time on the Day 
of Atonement. 

The priesthood ministering in the Temple were arranged 
into *' ordinary " priests and various officials. Of the latter 
there were, besides the high-priest/ the " Sagan," or suffragan 
priest ; two " Katholikin," or chief treasurers and overseers ; 
seven '* Ammarcalin," who were subordinate to the Katholikin, 
and had chief charge of all the gates; and three ''Gizbarin/* 
or under-treasurers. These fourteen officers, ranking in the 
order mentioned, formed the standing "council of the 
Temple," which regulated everything connected with the 
affairs and services of the sanctuary. Its members were 
also called " the elders of the priests," or " the counsellors." 
This judicatory, which ordinarily did not busy itself with 
criminal questions, apparently took a leading part in the 
condemnation of Jesus. But, on the other hand, it is well 
to remember that they were not all of one mind, since 
Joseph of Arimathea belonged to their number — the title 
by which he is designated in Mark xv. 43 being exactly 
the same word as that applied in the Talmud to the members 
of this priestly council. 

It is difficult to specify the exact duties of each of these 
classes of officials. The " Sagan " (or " Segen," or " Segan ") 
would officiate for the high-priest, when from any cause he was 
incapacitated ; he would act generally as his assistant, and 
take the oversight of all the priests, whence he is called in 
Scripture " second priest,"^ and in Talmudical writings ''the 

^ The Rabbis speak of a high-priest ordained '* for war," who accompanied 
the people to battle, but no historical trace of a distinct office of this kind can be 
discovered. 

2 2 Kings XXV. 18 i Jer. lii. 24. 



76 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

Sagan of the priests/*^ A ^'Chananjah" is mentioned in the 
Talmud as a Sagan, but whether or not he was the "Annas " 
of the New Testament must be left undecided. The two 
Katholikin were to the Sagan what he was to the high- 
priest, though their chief duty seems to have been about the 
treasures of the Temple.^ Similarly, the seven Ammarcalin 
were assistants of the Katholikin, though they had special 
charge of the gates, the holy vessels, and the holy vestments ; 
and again the three (or else seven), " Gizbarin *' assistants of the 
Ammarcalin. The title " Gizbar " occurs so early as Ezra i. 8 ; 
but its exact meaning seems to have been already unknown 
when the LXX translated that book. They appear to have 
had charge of all dedicated and consecrated things, of the 
Temple tribute, of the redemption money, etc., and to have 
decided all questions connected with such matter^. 

Next in rank to these officials were the " heads of each 
course '* on duty for a week, and then the " heads of 
families " of every course. After them followed fifteen over- 
seers, viz., " the overseer concerning the times," who sum- 
moned priests and people to their respective duties ; the 
overseer for shutting the doors (under the direction, of course, 
of the Ammarcalin) ; the overseer of the guards, or captain of 
the Temple ; the overseer of the singers and of those who blew 
the trumpets ; the overseer of the cymbals ; the overseer of 
the lots, which were drawn every morning ; the overseer of 
the birds, who had to provide the turtle-doves and pigeon^ 
for those who brought such offerings ; the overseer of the 

1 We may here at once dismiss the theory that the Sagan was the elected suc- 
cessor of the high-priest. 

* Thus in Bamidbar Rabba (sect. 14, fol. 271^), Korah is described as Katholicus 
to the King of Egypt, who *'had the keys of his treasures." Compare Buxiorff 
in vocem. 



The Ojjiciating Priesthood. 77 

seals, who dispensed the four counterfoils for the various 
meat-offerings suited for different sacrifices ; the overseer of 
the drink-offerings, for a similar purpose to the above ; the 
overseer of the sick, or the Temple physician ; the overseer 
of the water, who had charge of the water-supply and the 
drainage ; the overseer for making the shewbread ; for pre- 
paring the incense ; for making the vails ; and for providing 
the priestly garments. All these officers had, of course, sub- 
ordinates, whom they chose and employed, either for the 
day or permanently ; and it was their duty to see to all the 
arrangements connected with their respective departments. 
Thus, not to speak of instructors, examiners of sacrifices, and 
a great variety of artificers, there must have been sufficient 
employment in the Temple for a very large number of persons. 
We must not close without enumerating the twenty-four 
sources whence, according to the Talmud, the priests derived 
their support.^ Of these ten were only available while in the 
Temple itself, four in Jerusalem, and the remaining ten 
throughout the Holy Land. Those which might only be 
used in the Temple itself were the priest's part of the sin- 
offering ; that of the trespass-offering for a known, and for a 
doubtful trespass ; public peace-offerings ; the leper's log of 
oil ; the two Pentecostal loaves ; the shewbread ; what was 
left of meat-offerings, and the omer at the Passover. The 
four which might be used only in Jerusalem were the first- 
lings of beasts, the Biccurim,^ the portion from the thank- 

* The Rabbis also enumerate fifteen functions which were peculiar to the priest's 
service. But as each of them will find its place in subsequent chapters we do rot 
recount them here. The curious reader is referred to Relandus, Antiq. (ed. Bud- 
deus), pp. 176, 177. 

To prevent mistakes, we may state that the term *'Therumoth" is, in a 
general way, used to desis^nate the prepared produce, such as oil, flour, wine ; and 
"Biccm-im," the natural product of the soil, such as corn, fmits, etc 



78 Tlie Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

offering,^ and from the Nazarite's goat, and the skins of the 
holy sacrifices. Of the ten which might be used throughout 
the land, five could be given at will to any priest, viz., the 
tithe of the tithe, the heave-offering of the dough,^ the first 
of the fleece, and the priest's due of meat.^ The other five, 
it was thought, should be given to the priests of the special 
course on duty for the week, viz., the redemption-money 
for a first-born son, that for an ass, the " sanctified field of 
possession," * what had been '' devoted," and such possession 
of ** a stranger " or proselyte as, having been stolen, was 
restored to the priests after the death of the person robbed, 
with a fifth part additional. Finally, to an unlettered 
priest it was only lawful to give the following from among 
the various dues : things *' devoted," the first-born of cattle, 
the redemption of a son, that of an ass, the priest* s due,^ 
the first of the wool, the " oil of burning,"^ the ten things 
which were to be used in the Temple itself, and the Biccurim. 
On the other hand, the high-priest had the right to take 
what portion of the offerings he chose, and one half of the 
shewbread every Sabbath also belonged to kim. 

Thus elaborate in every particular was the system which 
regulated the admission, the services, and the privileges of 
the officiating priesthood. Yet it has all vanished, not 
leaving behind it in the synagogue even a single trace of its 
complicated and perfect arrangements. These *'old things 
are passed away," because they were only " a shadow of 
good things to come." But ^' the substance is of Christ," 
and '^ He abideth an High-Priest for ever." 

* Lev. vii. 12 ; xxii. 29, 30. * Numb. xv. 20; Rom. xi. 16. 

* Deut, xviii. 3. * Lev. xxvii. 16. ^ Deut. xviii. 3. 

• A term meaning *' defiled TherumoM'^ 



CHAPTER v. 

SACRIFICES : THEIR ORDER AND THEIR MEANING. 

** There are priests that offer gifts according to the law: who serve unto the 
example and shadow of heavenly things."— Heb. viii. 4, 5. 

IT is a curious fact, but sadly significant, that modern 
Judaism should declare neither sacrifices nor a Leviti- 
cal priesthood to belong to the essence of the Old Testa- 
ment ; that, in fact, they had been foreign elements imported 
into it — tolerated, indeed, by Moses, but against which the 
prophets earnestly protested and incessantly laboured.^ The 
only arguments by which this strange statement is supported 
are, that the Book of Deuteronomy contains merely a brief 
summary, not a detailed repetition, of sacrificial ordinances, 
and that such passages as Isaiah i. 11, etc., Micah vi. 6, etc.^ 
inveig^h against sacrifices offered without real repentance or 
change of mind. Yet this anti-sacrificial, or, as we may caU 
it, antl spiritual, tendency is really of much earlier date. Foi 
the saci'ifices of the Old Testament were not merely outward 
observances — a sort of work-righteousness which justified the 
offerer by the mere fact of his obedience — since ''it is not 

^ We specially refer to Dr. A. Geiger, one of the ablest Rabbinical writers of 
Germany, who makes this argument the substance of Lect. v. in his Judenth t(, s, 
Gesch. {Judaism and its History). 



8o The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take 
away sins."^ The sacrifices of the Old Testament were 
symbolical and typical. An outward observance without 
any real inward meaning is only a ceremony. But a rite 
which has a present spiritual meaning is a symbol ; and if, 
besides, it also points to a future reality, conveying at the 
same time, by anticipation, the blessing that is yet to appear, 
it is a type. Thus the Old Testament sacrifices were not 
only symbols, nor yet merely predictions by fact (as prophecy 
is a prediction by word), but they already conveyed to the 
believing Israelite the blessing that was to flow from the 
future reality to which they pointed. Hence the service of 
the letter and the work-righteousness of the Scribes and 
Pharisees ran directly contrary to this hope of faith and 
spiritual view of sacrifices, which placed all on the level 
of sinners to be saved by the substitution of another, to 
whom they pointed. Afterwards, when the destruction of 
the Temple rendered its services impossible, another and most 
cogent reason was added for trying to substitute other things, 
such as prayers, fasts, etc., in room of the sacrifices. There- 
fore, although none of the older Rabbis has ventured on such 
an assertion as that of modern Judaism, the tendency must 
have been increasingly in that direction. In fact, it had 
become a necessity — since to declare sacrifices of the essence 
of Judaism would have been to pronounce modern Judaism 
an impossibility. But thereby also the synagogue has given 
sentence against itself, and by disowning sacrifices has placed 
itself outside the pale of the Old Testament. 

Every unprejudiced reader of the Bible must feel that 
sacrifices constitute the centre of the Old Testament. In- 

' Heb. X. 4. 



Sacrifices: their Order and their Meaning. 8i 

deed, were this the place, we might argue from their univer- 
sahty that, along with the acknowledgment of a Divine 
power, the dim remembrance of a happy past, and the hope 
of a happier future, sacrifices belonged to the primeval 
traditions which mankind inherited frdm Paradise. To sacri- 
fice seems as '' natural " to man as to pray ; the one indi- 
cates what he feels about himself, the other what he feels 
about God. The one means a felt need of propitiation ; the 
other a felt sense of dependence. 

The fundamental idea of sacrifice in the Old Testament 
is that of substitution, which again seems to imply everything 
else — atonement and redemption, vicarious punishment and 
forgiveness. The first-fruits go for the whole products ; the 
firstlings for the flock ; the redemption-money for that which 
cannot be ofi*ered ; and the life of the sacrifice, which is in 
its blood,^ for the life of the sacrificer. Hence also the strict 
prohibition to partake of blood. Even in the " Korban," 
gift^ or free-will offering, it is still the gift for the giver. 
This idea of substitution, as introduced, adopted, and sanc- 
tioned by God Himself, is expressed by the sacrificial term 
rendered in our version '' atonement," but which really means 
covering, the substitute in the acceptance of God taking the 
place of, and so covering, as it were, the person of the offerer. 
Hence the scriptural experience : '' Blessed is he whose trans- 
gression is forgiven, whose sin is covered . . . unto whom 
the Lord imputeth not iniquity; "^ and perhaps also the scrip- 
tural prayer : *' Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon 
the face of Thine Anointed."* Such sacrifices, however, 
necessarily pointed to a mediatorial priesthood, through 

^ Lev. xvii. ii. 2 Mark vii. 11. 

5 Psa. xxxii. i, a. * Psa. Ixxxiv. 9. 



82 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

whom alike they and the purified worshippers should be 
brought near to God, and kept in fellowship with Him. 
Yet these priests themselves continually changed ; their own 
persons and services needed purification, and their sacrifices 
required constant renewal, since, in the nature of it, such 
substitution could not be perfect. In short, all this was 
symbolical (of man's need, God's mercy, and His covenant), 
and typical, till He should come to whom it all pointed, and 
who had all along given reality to it ; He, whose Priesthood 
was perfect, and who on a perfect altar brought a perfect 
sacrifice, once for all — a perfect Substitute, and a perfect 
Mediator.^ 

At the very threshold of the Mosaic dispensation stands 
the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb connected with the 
redemption of Israel, and which in many respects must be 
regarded as typical, or rather anticipatory, of all the others. 
But there was one sacrifice which, even under the Old Testa- 
ment, required no renewal. It was when God had entered 
into covenant relationship with Israel, and Israel became 
the " people of God." Then Moses sprinkled *' the blood 
of the covenant" on the altar and on the people.^ On the 
ground of this covenant-sacrifice all others rested.^ These 
were, then, either sacrifices of communion with God, or else 
intended to restore that communion when it had been dis- 
turbed or dimmed through sin and trespass : sacrifices in 
communion, or for comm.union with God. To the former 
class belong the burnt- and the peace-offerings ; to the latter, 
the sin- and the trespass-offerings. But, as without the shed- 
ding o\ blood there is no remission of sin, every service and 
every worshipper had, so to speak, to be purified by blood, 

* Heb. X. 1-24. « Ex. xxiv. » Psa. 1. 5. 



Sacrifices: their Order and their Meaning. 83 

and the mediatorial agency of the priesthood called in to 
bring near unto God, and to convey the assurance of 
acceptance. 

The readiest, but perhaps the most superficial, arrangement 
of sacrifices is into bloody and unbloody. The latter, or 
" Minchah," included, besides the meat and drink offering, 
the first sheaf at the Passover, the two loaves at Pentecost, 
and the shewbread. The meat-offering was only brought 
alone in two instances — the priest's offering ^ and that of 
jealousy,^ to which Jewish tradition adds the meat-offerings 
mentioned in Leviticus ii. If in Leviticus v. ii a meat- 
offering is allowed in cases of extreme poverty as a substi- 
tute for a sin-offering, this only further proves the substitu- 
tionary character of sacrifices. From all this it will be 
evident that, as a general rule, the meat-offering cannot be 
regarded as separate from the other or bloody sacrifices. In 
proof of this, it always varied in quantity, according to the 
kind of sacrifice which it accompanied.^ 

The general requisites of all sacrifices were — that they 
should be brought of such things, in such place and manner, 
and through such mediatorial agency, as God had appointed. 
Thus the choice and the appointment of the mode of ap- 
proaching Him, were to be all of God. Then it was a first 
principle that every sacrifice must be of such things as had 
belonged to the offerer. None other could represent him or 
take his place before God. Hence the Pharisees were right 
when, in opposition to the Sadducees, they carried it that 
all public sacrifices (which were offered for the nation as a 
whole) should be purchased, not from voluntary contribu- 

^ Lev. vii. 12. ^ Numb. v. 15. 

• Numb. XV. I-I2i xxviii. 1-12; xxix. ij etfib 



84 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

tions, but from the regular temple revenues. Next, all 
animal sacrifices were to be free of blemishes (of which the 
Rabbis enumerate seventy-three), and all unbloody offerings 
to be without admixture of leaven or of honey ; the latter 
probably because, from its tendency to fermentation or corrup- 
tion, it resembled leaven. For a similar reason salt, as the 
symbol of incorruption, was to be added to all sacrifices.^ 
Hence we read in Mark ix. 49 : '' For every one shall be 
salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt ;'* 
that is, as the salt is added to the sacrifice symbolically 
to point to its incorruption, so the reality and permanence 
of our Christian lives will be brought out by the fire of the 
great day, when what is wood, hay, and stubble shall be 
consumed ; while that which is real shall prove itself incorrup- 
tible, having had the fire applied to it. 

In Scripture three kinds of four-footed beasts — oxen, sheep, 
and goats ; and two of birds — turtle-doves and young pigeons 
— are appointed for sacrifices.^ The latter, except in certain 
purifications, are only allowed as substitutes for other sacri- 
fices in case of poverty. Hence also no direction is given 
either as to their age or sex, though the Rabbis hold that 
the turtle-doves (which were the common birds of passage) 
should be fully grown, and the domestic pigeons young 
birds. But, as in the various sacrifices of oxen, sheep, and 
goats there were differences of age and sex, the Jews enume- 
rate twelve sacrifices, to which as many terms in Scripture 
correspond. The Paschal lamb and that for the trespass- 

* The Rabbis speak of the so-called "salt of Sodom," probably rock salt from 
the southern end of the Dead Sea, as used in the sacrifices. 

* ''The birds" used at the purification of the leper (Lev. xiv. 4) cannot be 
regaided as sacrificea. 



Sandfices : their Order and their Meaning. 85 

offerings required to be males, as well as all burnt- and all 
public sacrifices. The latter '* made void the Sabbath and 
defilement/' i.e,^ they superseded the law of Sabbath rest/ 
and might be continued, notwithstanding one kind of Leviti- 
cal defilement — that by death. 

The Rabbis, who are very fond of subtle distinctions, also 
speak of public sacrifices that resembled the private,^ and of 
private sacrifices that resembled the public, in that they also 
"made void the Sabbath and defilement."^ Altogether they 
enumerate eleven public sacrifices, viz., the daily sacrifices ; the 
additional for the Sabbath ; for the New Moon ; the Passover 
sacrifices ; the lamb when the sheaf was waved ; the Pente- 
costal sacrifices ; those brought with the two first loaves ; 
New Year's ; Atonement-day sacrifices ; those on the first 
day of, and those on the octave of " Tabernacles." Private 
sacrifices they classify as those on account of sins by word 
or deed ; those on account of what concerned the body (such 
as various defilements) ; those on account of property (first- 
• lings, tithes) ; those on account of festive seasons ; and those 
on account of vows or promises. Yet another division of 
sacrifices was into those dtce, or prescribed, and those volun- 
tary. For the latter nothing could be used that had pre- 
viously been vowed, since it would already belong unto God. 
But of far greater importance is the arrangement of sacri- 
fices into the most holy and the less holy, which is founded 
on Scripture.* Certain meat-offerings/ and all burnt-, sin-, 

* Matt. xii. 5. 

* When the congregation had sinned through ignorance (Lev. iv. 13 ; Numb. 
XV. 24-26). 

* The Paschal lamb, and the high-priest's bullock for a sin-offering and ram 
for a burnt-offering on the Day of Atonement. 

* Lev. vi. 17; vii. I ; xiv. 13. ^ Lev. ii. 3, 10; vi. 17; x. 12. 



80 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

and trespass-sacrifices, as well as all public peace-offerings, 
were most holy. Such were to be offered or sacrificed in 
one of the more holy places ; they were slain at the north 
side of the altar ^ (the less holy at the east or south side) ; 
and they were either not partaken of at all, or else only by 
the officiating priests, and within the court of the Temple. The 
skins of the most holy sacrifices, except such as were wholly 
burnt, belonged to the priests ; those of the less holy to the 
offerers. In the latter case they also partook of their flesh, 
the only exception being the firstlings, which were eaten 
by the priests alone. The Rabbis attach ten comparative 
degrees of sanctity to sacrifices ; and it is interesting to mark 
that of these the first belonged to the blood of the sin- 
offering ; the second to the burnt-offering ; the third to the 
sin-offering itself; and the fourth to the trespass-offering. 
Lastly, all sacrifices had to be brought before actual sunset, 
although the unconsumed flesh might smoulder on the altar 
till next dawn. 

The Rabbis mention the following five acts as belonging 
to the offerer of a sacrifice : the laying on of hands, slaying, 
skinning, cutting up, and washing the inwards. These other 
five were strictly priestly functions : Catching up the blood, 
sprinkling it, lighting the altar fire, laying on the wood, 
bringing up the pieces, and all else done at the altar itself. 

The whole service must have been exceedingly solemn. 
Having first been duly purified, a man brought his sacrifice 
himself *' before the Lord "—anciently, to "the door of the 
Tabernacle,"^ where the altar of burnt-offering was,^ and in 

1 The reason of this is obscure. Was it that the north was regarded as the 
Symbolical region of cold and darkness ? Or, was it because during the wilder- 
ness-journey the Most Holy Place probably faced north — towards Palestine ? 

2 Lev. i. 3 ; iv. 4. ^ ^x. xl. 6. 



Sacrifices: thch^ Order and their Meaning. 87 

the Temple into the Great Court. If the sacrifice was most 
holy, he entered by the northern ; if less holy, by the 
southern gate. Next he placed it so as to face the west, or 
the Most Holy Place, in order thus literally to bring it before 
the Lord. To this the apostle refers when, in Romans xii. I, 
he beseecheth us to present our " bodies a living sacrifice, 
holy, acceptable unto God." 

But this was only the commencement of the service. 
Women might bring their sacrifices into the Great Court ; 
but they might not perform the second rite^ — that of lay- 
ing on of hands. This meant transmission and delegation, 
and implied representation ; so that it really pointed to the 
substitution of the sacrifice for the sacrificer. Hence it was 
always accompanied by confession of sin and prayer. It 
was thus done. The sacrifice was so turned that the person 
confessing looked towards the west, while he laid his hands 
between the horns of the sacrifice,^ and if the sacrifice was 
brought by more than one, each had to lay on his hands. It 
is not quite a settled point whether one or both hands were 
laid on ; but all are agreed that it was to be done *' with one's 
whole force '' — as it were, to lay one's whole weight upon the 
substitute.^ If a person under vow had died, his heir-at-law 
took his place. The only public sacrifices in which hands 
were laid on were those for sins of public ignorance,* when 
the "elders " acted as representing the people — to which some 

^ There is, however, one dissentient opinion on this point. See Relandus, AnU 
p. 277. 

2 If the offerer stood outside the Court of the Priests, on the topmost of the 
fifteen Levitical steps, or within the gate of Nicanor, his hands at least must be 
within the Great Court, or the rite was not valid. 

^ Children, the blind, the deaf, those out of their mind, and non-Israelites, were 
not allowed to *'lay on hands." * Lev. iv. 15 ; xvi. 21. 



88 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

Rabbinical authorities add public sin-offerings in general,' — 
and the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement, on which the 
high-priest laid his hands. In all private sacrifices, except 
firstlings, tithes, and the Paschal lamb, hands were laid on, 
and, while doing so, the following prayer was repeated : " I 
entreat, O Jehovah : I have sinned, I have done perversely, 
I have rebelled, I have committed (naming the sin, trespass, 
or, in case of a burnt-offering, the breach of positive or 
negative command) ; but I return in repentance, and let this 
be for my atonement (covering)." According to Maimo- 
nides, in peace-offerings a record of God's praise, rather than 
a confession of sins, was spoken. But, as the principle pre- 
vailed that frequent confession even without saciifice was 
meritorious, another formula is also recorded, in which the 
allusion to sacrifices is omitted. 

Closely connected with this was "the lifting and waving'* 
of certain sacrifices. The priest put his hands under those 
of the offerer, and moved the sacrifice upwards and down- 
vvards, right and left ; according to Abarbanel also '' for^^ards 
and backwards." The lamb of the leper's trespass-offer- 
ing was waved before it was slain ; ^ private peace-offer- 
ings, only after they had been slain ; while in public peace- 
offerings, the practice varied. 

Under ordinary circumstances all pubhc sacrifices, and 
also always that of the leper, were slain by the priests.^ 
The Talmud declares the offering of birds, so as to secure 
the blood,* to have been the most difficult part of a priest's 
work. For the death of the sacrifice was only a means 

1 On the ground of 2 Chron. xxix. 23. 2 L^y^ ^iv, 24. 

'^ The Hebrew term used for sacrificial slaying is never applied to the ordinary 
Killing of animals. 
* In the case of birds there was no laying on of hands. 



Sacrifices . tliAr Order and their Meaning. 89 

towards an end, that end being the shedding and sprinkling 
of the blood, by which the atonement was really made. 
The Rabbis mention a variety of rules observed by the 
priest who caught up the blood — all designed to make the 
best provision for its proper sprinkling.^ Thus the priest 
was to catch up the blood in a silver vessel pointed at the 
bottom, so that it could not be put down, and to keep it 
constantly stirred, to preserve the fluidity of the blood. In 
the sacrifice of the red heifer, however, the priest caught the 
blood directly in his left hand, and sprinkled it with his right 
towards the Holy Place : while in that of the leper one of the 
two priests received the blood in the vessel ; the other in his 
hand, from which he anointed the purified leper .^ 

According to the difference of sacrifices, the blood was 
differently applied, and in different places. In all burnt-, 
trespass-, and peace-off"erings the blood was thrown directly 
out of the vessel or vessels in which it had been caught, the 
priest going first to one corner of the altar and then to the 
other, and throwing it in the form of the Greek letter F, so 
that each time two sides of the altar were covered. Any 
blood left after these two " gifts," as they were called (which 
stood for four), was poured out at the base of the altar, 
whence it flowed into the Kedron. In all sin-ofi*erings the 
blood was not thrown, but sprinkled, the priest dipping the 
forefinger of his right hand into the blood, and then sprink- 
ling it from his finger by a motion of the thumb. According 
to the importance of the sin-off*ering, the blood was so applied 
either to the four horns of the altar of burnt-offering, or else 
it was brought into the Holy Place itself, and sprinkled first 

* The Rabbis mention five mistakes which might render a sacrifice invalid, none 
of them the least interesting, except, perhaps, that the guliet might never be wholly 
severed. * Lev. iv. 25. 



90 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

seven times towards the veil of the Most Holy Place/ and 
then on the four horns of the golden altar of incense, be- 
ginning at the north-east. Finally, on the Day of Atonement 
the blood was sprinkled within the Most Holy Place itself. 
From all sin-offerings the blood of which was sprinkled on the 
horns of the altar of burnt-ofifering certain portions were to be 
eaten, while those whose blood was brought into the Holy Place 
Itself were wholly burnt. But in the sacrifices of firstlings, of 
tithes of animals, and of the Paschal lamb, the blood was 
neither thrown nor sprinkled, and only poured out at the base 
of the altar. 

On the shedding of blood, which was of the greatest im- 
portance — since, according to the Talmud, '' whenever the 
blood touches the altar the offerer is atoned for "^followed 
the " flaying " of the sacrifice and the " cutting up into his 
pieces." All this had to be done in an orderly manner, and 
according to certain rules, the apostle adopting the sacrificial 
term when he speaks of '* rightly dividing the word of truth." ^ 
The " inwards " and '* legs " having been washed,^ and dried 
with sponges, the separate pieces of the sacrifice were brought 
up by various priests : the calculation of the Rabbis being, 
that in the case of a sheep or a she-goat six priests carried the 
sacrifice, one more the meat-, and another the drink-offering 
(in all eight) ; while in that of a ram twelve, and in that of a 
bullock four-and-twenty priests were needed for the service. 
Next, the sacrificial salt was applied, and then the pieces were 
first confusedly thrown and then arranged upon the fire.* This 
latter part of the service requires explanation. The common 

1 Lev. iv. 6, 17. 2 2 Tim. ii. 15. ^ Lev. i. 9. 

* Whatever was laid upon the aUar was regarded as ** sanctified " by it, and 
could not be again lemoved, even though it should have become defiled. This 
explains the words of Christ in Matt, xxiii. 19. 



Sacrifices : their Order and their Meaning. 91 

idea that the burning either of part or the whole of the sacri- 
fice pointed to its destruction, and symbolised the wrath of God 
and the punishment due to sin, does not seem to accord 
with the statements of Scripture. The term used is not that 
commonly employed for burning, but means ''causing to 
smoke," and the rite symbolises partly the entire surrender 
of the sacrifice, but chiefly its acceptance on the part of God. 
Thus the sacrifice consumed by a fire which had originally 
come down from God Himself — not by strange fire — would 
ascend " for a sweet savour unto the Lord." ^ Even the cir- 
cumstance that the fire for the altar of incense was always 
taken from that on the altar of burnt-offering, shows that, 
while that fire might symbolise the presence of a holy Jehovah 
in His house, it could not refer to the fire of wrath or of 
punishment.^ As already stated, those parts of the sin-, 
trespass-,^ and public peace-offerings, which were allowed to 
be eaten, could only be partaken of by the priests (not their 
families) during their actual ministry, and within the Temple 
walls. The flesh of these off"erings had also to be eaten on 
the day of the sacrifice, or in the night following ; while in 
other off*erings the permission extended to a second day. 
The Rabbis, however, restrict the eating of the Paschal lamb 
to midnight. Whatever was left beyond the lawful time had 
to be burned. 

It is deeply interesting to know that the New Testament 
view of sacrifices is entirely in accordance with that of the 

' Lev. i. 9; iv. 31. 

2 Compare the article in Herzog's Encyc, vol. x. p. 633. Some of the sacrifices 
were burned on the altar of burnt-offering, and some outside the gate; while in certain 
less holy sacrifices it was allowed to bum what was left anywhere within the city. 

3 Except those for the whole people and for the high-priest, which had to be 
burned outside the gate. 



92 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services^ 

ancient Synagogue. At the threshold we here meet the 
principle : '' There is no atonement except by blood." In 
accordance with this we quote the following from Jewish 
interpreters. Rashi says :^ '^The soul of every creature is 
bound up in its blood ; therefore I gave it to atone for the 
soul of man — that one soul should come and atone for the 
other." Similarly Aben Ezra writes : " One soul is a sub- 
stitute for the other." And Moses ben Nachmann : *' I gave 
the soul for you on the altar, that the soul of the animal 
should be an atonement for the soul of the man." These 
quotations might be almost indefinitely multiplied. Another 
phase of scriptural truth appears in such Rabbinical state 
ments as that by the imposition of hands : " The offerer, as it 
were, puts away his sins from himself, and transfers them 
upon the living animal ;" and that, *' as often as any one sins 
with his soul, whether from haste or malice, he puts away his 
sin from himself, and places it upon the head of his sacrifice, 
and it is an atonement for him." Hence, also, the principle 
laid down by Abarbanel, that, *' after the prayer of confession 
(connected with the imposition of hands) the sins of the 
children of Israel lay on the sacrifice (of the Day of Atone- 
ment)." This, according to Maimonides, explains why every 
one who had anything to do with the sacrifice of the red 
heifer or the goat on the Day of Atonement, or similar 
offerings, was rendered unclean ; since these animals were re- 
garded as actually sin-bearing. In fact, according to Rabbi- 
nical expression, the sin-bearing animal is on that ground 
expressly designated as something to be rejected and abomi- 
nable. The Christian reader will here be reminded of the 
scriptural statement: "For He has made Him to be sin 

\ On Lev. xvii. i x« 



Sacrifices: their Order and their Meaning. 93 

for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the 
righteousness of God in Him." 

There is yet one other phase on which the Synagogue lays 
stress. It is best expressed in the following quotation, to 
which many similar might be added : *' Properly speaking, 
the blood of the sinner should have been shed, and his body 
burned, as those of the sacrifices. But the Holy One — blessed 
be He ! — accepted our sacrifice from us as redemption and 
atonement. Behold the full grace which Jehovah — blessed 
be He ! — has shown to man ! In His compassion and in the 
fulness of His grace He accepted the soul of the animal 
instead of his soul, that through it there might be an atone- 
ment.*' Hence also the principle, so important as an answer 
to the question, Whether tlje Israelites of old had understood 
the meaning of sacrifices } " He that brought a sacrifice re- 
quired to come to the knowledge that that sacrifice was his 
redemption."^ 

In view of all this, the deep-felt want so often expressed by 
the Synagogue is most touching. In the liturgy for the Day 
of Atonement we read : ** While the altar and the sanctuary 
were still in their places, we were atoned for by the goats, 
designated by lot. But now for our guilt, if Jehovah be 
pleased to destroy us, He takes from our hand neither burnt- 
offering nor sacrifice." We add only one more out of many 
similar passages in the Jewish prayer-book : " We have spoken 
violence and rebellion ; we have walked in a way that is not 
right. . . . Behold, our transgressions have increased upon us ; 
they press upon us like a -burden ; they have gone over our 
heads ; we have forsaken Thy commandments, which are 

^ David de Pomis. On the whole subject see Wlinsche^s interesting tractate, 
Zfe lAiden des Messias, where the quotations are given ftt length. 



94 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

excellent. And wherewith shall we appear before Thee, the 
mighty God, to atone for our transgressions, and to put away 
our trespasses, and to remove sin, and to magnify Thy 
grace ? Sacrifices and offerings are no more ; sin- and trespass- 
offerings have ceased ; the blood of sacrifices is no longer 
sprinkled ; destroyed is Thy holy house, and fallen the gates 
of Thy sanctuary ; Thy holy city lies desolate ; Thou hast 
slain, sent from Thy presence ; they have gone, driven forth 
from before Thy face, the priests who brought Thy sacrifices !" 
Accordingly, also, the petition frequently recurs : " Raise up 
for us a right Intercessor (that it may be true), I have found 
a ransom (an atonement, or covering)/' And on the Day of 
Atonement, as in substance frequently on other occasions, 
they pray: ** Bring us back in jubilee to Zion, Thy city, and in 
joy as of old to Jerusalem, the house of Thy holiness ! Then 
shall we bring before Thy face the sacrifices that are due.'* 

Who shall make answer to this deep lament of exiled 
Judah ? Where shall a ransom be found to take the place 
of their sacrifices ? In their despair some appeal to the 
merits of the fathers or of the pious ; others to their own or to 
Israel's sufferings, or to death, which is regarded as the last 
expiation. But the most melancholy exhibition, perhaps, is 
that of an attempted sacrifice by each pious Israelite on the 
eve of the Day of Atonement. Taking for males a white 
cock,^ and for females a hen, the head of the house prays: 
" The children of men who dwell in darkness and in the 
shadow of death, bound in misery and iron — them will He 
bring forth from darkness and the shadow of death, and 
break their bonds asunder. Fools, because of their trans- 

1 Because the Hebrew word for '*man'' (Gever) is used in the Talmud for 
"a cock," and "white," with reference to Isa. i. l8. 



Sacrifices : their Order and their Meaning. 95 

gressions and because of their iniquities, are afflicted ; their 
soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they draw near unto 
the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their 
trouble, that He save them out of their distresses. He sends 
His word and heals them, and delivers them from their 
destruction. Then they praise the Lord for His goodness, 
and for His marvellous works to the children of men. If 
there be an angel with Him, an intercessor, one among a 
thousand, to show unto men his righteousness, then He is 
gracious unto him, and saith. Let him go, that he may not 
go down into the pit ; I have found an atonement (a cover- 
ing)." Next, the head of the house swings the sacrifice round 
his head, saying, " This is my substitute ; this is in exchange 
for me ; this is my atonement. This cock goes into death, 
but may I enter into a long and happy life, and into peace !*' 
Then he repeats this prayer three times, and lays his hands 
on the sacrifice which is now slain. 

This offering up of an animal not sanctioned by the law, in 
a place, in a manner, and by hands not authorised by God, 
is it not a terrible phantom of Israel's dark and dreary night 1 
and does it not seem strangely to remind us of that other 
terrible night, when the threefold crowing of a cock awakened 
Peter to the fact of his denial of " the Lamb of God which 
taketh away the sin of the world V^ 

And still the cry of the Synagogue comes to us through 

these many centuries of past unbelief and ignorance : " Let 

one innocent come and make atonement for the guilty !" To 

which no other response can ever be made than that of the 

apostle: "Such an High-Priest became us, who is holy, 

harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher 

than the heavens !"^ 

^ Heb. vii. 26* 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE BURNT-OFFERING, THE SIN- AND TRESPASS-OFFERING, 
AND THE PEACE-OFFERING. 

** And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same 
sacrifices, which can never take away sins : but this Man, after He had 
offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God." — 
Heb. X. II, 12. 

THE question whether or not sacrifices were to cease after 
the coming of the Messiah is differently answered in the 
Jewish synagogue, some arguing that only thank- and peace- 
offerings would then be brought, while the majority expect a 
revival of the regular sacrificial worship.^ But on one point 
the authorities of the old synagogue, previous to their contro- 
versy with Christianity, are agreed. As the Old Testament 
and Jewish tradition taught that the object of a sacrifice was 
its sicbstitittion for the offender, so Scripture and the Jewish 
fathers also teach that the substitute to whom all these types 
pointed was none other than the Messiah. 

It has been well remarked,^ that the difficulties of modern 
interpreters of the Messianic prophecies arise chiefly from their 
not perceiving the unity of the Old Testament in its progres- 
sive unfolding of the plan of salvation. Moses must not be 

^ See WUnsche, «.j., p. 28. It has been matter of controversy whether or not, 
in the first years after the destruction of the Temple, solitary attempts were made 
by enthusiasts to offer sacrifices. My own conviction is, that no such instance 
can be historically established. See Derenbourg, Essai sur V Hist, de la FaL, 
pp. 480-482. * Wiinsche, p. 35. 



Burnt ^ Siuy Trespass, and Peace- Offerings. 97 

read independently of the Psalms, nor yet the Psalms inde- 
pendently of the Prophets. Theirs are not so many uncon- 
nected writings of different authorship and age, only held 
together by the boards of one volume. They form integral 
parts of one whole, the object of which is to point to the 
goal of all revelation in the appearing of the Christ. Ac- 
cordingly, we recognise in the prophetic word, not a change 
nor a difference, but three well-marked progressive stages, 
leading up to the sufferings and the glory of Messiah. In 
the Proto-Evangel, as Genesis iii. 15 has been called, and in 
what follows it, we have as yet only the grand general out- 
lines of the figure. Thus we see a Person in the Seed of the 
woman ; suffering, in the prediction that His heel would be 
bruised ; and victory ^ in that He would bruise the serpent's 
head. These merely general outlines are wonderfully filled 
up in the Book of Psalms. The ^' Person " is now " the Son 
of David ; " while alike the sufferings and the victory are 
sketched in vivid detail in such Psalms as xxii., xxxv., 
Ixix., and cii. ; or else in Psalms ii., Ixxii., Ixxxix., ex., and 
cxviii. — not to speak of other almost innumerable allusions. 

One element only was still wanting — that this Son of 
David, this Sufferer and Conqueror, should be shown to be 
our Substitute y to whom also the sacrificial types had pointed. 
This is added in the writings of the prophets, especially 
in those of Isaiah, culminating, as it were, in Isaiah liii., 
around which the details furnished by the other prophets 
naturally group themselves.* The picture is now completed, 
and so true to the original that, when compared with the 
reality in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ, we 
can have no difficulty in recognising it ; and this not so much 
from one or other outline in prophecy or type, as from 

H 



98 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services^ 

their combination and progressive development throughout 
the Scriptures of the Old Testament, considered as a con- 
nected whole. 

As already stated, such early works as the "Targum 
Jonathan" and the "Jerusalem Targum"^ frankly adopt 
the Messianic interpretation of these prophecies. The later 
Rabbis also admit that this had been the common view of the 
Jewish fathers ; but, on account of " the sages of the Naza- 
renes, who apply it to that man whom they hanged in Jeru- 
salem towards the close of the Second Temple, and who, 
according to their opinion, was the Son of the Most Blessed, 
and had taken human nature in the womb of the Virgin," 
they reject that interpretation, and refer the prediction of 
suffering either to some individual, or mostly to Israel as a 
nation. But so difficult is it to weaken the language in which 
the Messiah's vicarious sufferings are described — not less than 
twelve times in Isaiah lii. 13 to liii. — that some of their com- 
mentators have been forced to admit it, sometimes almost 
unconsciously. The language of Isaiah has even crept 
into the following Messianic hymnal prayer for the Pass- 
over :* — 

** Haste, my Beloved ; come, ere ends the vision's day ; 
Make haste, and chase Thyself the shadows all away I 
• Despised ' is He, but yet * extolled ' and * high * shall be ; 
'Deal prudently,' 'sprinkle nations,* and * judge' shall He.* 

Thus, if by the universal consent of all who are unprejudiced 

* Whatever date may be assigned to these 'jTargumin^ in ^€\x present recension, 
there can be no doubt that they embody the elements of the very earliest Jewish 
Biblical interpretation. For particulars I must take leave to refer to my History 
of the Jewish Nation^ chap. xi. : Theological Science and Religious Belief in Pales- 
tine, p. 407, etc. 

2 According to the English edition of David Levi, this prayer applies to **the 
true Messiah.'' See Wiinsche, p. 28, etc 



Burnt, Silt, Trespass, and Peace- Offerings. 99 

sacrifices point to substitution, substitution in its turn points 
to the Person and Work of the Messiah. 

It has already been explained that all sacrifices were 
either such as were offered on the ground of communion with 
God — the burnt- and the peace-offering ; or else such as were 
intended to restore that communion when it had been dimmed 
or disturbed — the sin- and the trespass-offering. Each of 
these four kinds of sacrifices will now have to be separately 
considered. 

I. The burnt-offering — Olah, or also Chalil} — The deriva- 
tion of the term Olah, as wholly ** ascending" unto God, 
indicates alike the mode of the sacrifice and its meaning. It 
symbolised the entire surrender unto God, whether of the 
individual or of the congregation, and His acceptance thereof. 
Hence, also, it could not be offered "without shedding of 
blood.'' Where other sacrifices were brought, it followed the 
sin- but preceded the peace-offering. In fact, it meant general 
acceptance on the ground of previous special acceptance, and 
it has rightly been called the sacrificium latreuticum, or sacri- 
fice of devotion and service.^ Thus day by day it formed the 
regular morning and evening service in the Temple, while on 
sabbaths, new moons, and festivals additional burnt-offerings 
followed the ordinary worship. There the covenant-people 
brought the covenant-sacrifice, and the multitude of offerings 
indicated, as it were, the fulness, richness, and joyousness of 
their self-surrender. Accordingly, although we can under- 
stand how this sacrifice niight be said to " make atonement " 
for an individual in the sense of assuring him of his accept- 
ance, we cannot agree with the Rabbis that it was intended 

^ Deut. xxxiii. lo : in Psa, li. 19 literally rendered ** whole burnt-offering." 
2 In the historical hooks the term Olah is, however, used in a more general 
sense to denote other sacrifices also. 



lOO The Temple y its Ministry and Services. 

to atone for evil thoughts and purposes, and for breaches of 
positive commands, or of such negative as involved also a 
positive com.mand. 

The burnt-offering was always to be a male animal, as the 
more noble, and as indicating strength and energy. The blood 
"vas thrown on the angles of the altar below the red line that 
ran round it. Then *' the sinew of the thigh," ^ the stomach 
and the entrails, etc., having been removed (in the case of 
birds also the feathers and the wings), and the sacrifice 
having been duly salted, it was wholly burned. The skins 
belonged to the ministering priests, who derived a consider- 
able revenue from this source.^ The burnt-offering was the 
only sacrifice which non-Israelites were allowed to bring.^ 
The Emperor Augustus had a daily burnt-offering brought 
for him of two lambs and a bullock ; and ever afterwards 
this sacrifice was regarded as indicating that the Jewish 
nation recognised the Roman emperor as their ruler. Hence 
at the commencement of the Jewish war Eleazar carried its 
rejection, and this becar^e, as it were, the open mark of the 
rebellion. 

11. The Sin-offering. — This is the most important of all 
sacrifices. It made atonement for the person of the offender, 
whereas the trespass-offering only atoned for one special 
offence. Hence sin-offerings were brought on festive occa- 
sions for the whole people, but never trespass-offerings."* In 

^ Gen. xxxid. 32. The ** sinew of the thigh" was neither allowed to be eaten 
nor to be sacrificed. 

2 Philo, De Sacerd. honor., p. 833. 

3 If they brought a ** peace-offering," it was to be treated as a bumt-ofFeiing, 
and that for the obvious reason that there was no one to eat the sacrificial meaL 
Of course, there was no imposition of hands in that case. 

* Comp. Numb, xxviii., xxix. 



Burnt ^ Sin, Trespass ^ and Peace- Offerings. loi 

fact, the trespass-offering may be regarded as representing 
ransom for a special wrong, while the sin-offering symbolised 
general redemption. Both sacrifices applied only to sins 
" through ignorance," in opposition to those done '* pre- 
sumptuously" (or ''with a high hand"). For the latter the 
law provided no atonement, but held out " a certain fearful 
looking for of judgment and fiery indignation." By sin.^ 
"through ignorance," however, we are to understand, ac- 
cording to the Rabbis, not only such as were committed 
strictly through want of knowledge, but also those which had 
been unintentional, or through weakness, or where the offender 
at the time realised not his guilt The fundamental difference 
between the two sacrifices appears also in this — that sin- 
offerings, having a retrospective effect on the worshippers, 
were brought at the various festivals, and also for purification 
in such defilements of the body as symbolically pointed to 
the sinfulness of our nature (sexual defilement, those con- 
nected with leprosy, and with death).^ On the other hand, 
the animal brought for a trespass-offering was to be always a 
male (generally a ram, which was never used as a sin-offering); 
nor was it lawful, as in the sin-offering, to make substitution 
of something else in case of poverty. These two particulars 
indicate that the trespass-offering contemplated chiefly a 
wrong, for which decided satisfaction was to be made by 
offering a male animal, and for which a definite, unvarying 
ransom was to be given.^ 

^ Oehler (in Herzog's Encycl. x. p. 643) applies the section Lev. v. I-13 to 
sin-offerings^ the word ** trespass" being taken in a general sense. The distinction 
between them and the ordinary trespass-offerings appears from verse 14, etc. 

* On the trespass-offering of the leper (Lev. xiv. 12), and of the Nazarite whose 
vow had been interrupted (Numb. vi. 12), see below. 



I02 Tlie Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

JHowever, in reference both to sin- and to trespass-offerings, 
the Rabbinical principle must be kept in view — that they only 
atoned in case of real repentance. Indeed, their first effect 
would be *'a remembrance of sins" before God.^ All sin- 
offerings were either public or private (congregational or 
individual). The former were always males; the latter 
always females, except the bullock for the high-priest's sin 
of ignorance,^ and the kid for the same offence of a " ruler." ^ 
They were further divided into fixedy which were the same in 
the case of rich and poor, and varying, which " ascended and 
descended" according to the circumstances of the offerer. 
** Fixed "sacrifices were all those for sins "through ignorance" 
against any of the prohibitory commands (of which the Rabbis 
enumerate 365);* for sins of deed, not of word; or else for 
such which, if they had been high-handed, would have carried 
the Divine punishment of being "cut off" (of which the Rabbis 
enumerate 36). The "varying" sacrifices were those for 
lepers f for women after childbirth (of which concession to 
poverty Mary, the mother of Jesus, availed herself);^ for 
having concealed a "thing known ";7 for having unwittingly 
sworn falsely ; and for having either unwittingly eaten of 
what had been consecrated, or gone into the Temple in a state 
of defilement. Lastly, there were " outer " and " inner " sin- 
offerings, according as the blood was applied to the altar of 
burnt-offering or brought into the inner sanctuary. In the 
former case the flesh was to be eaten only by the officiating 
priests and within the sanctuary ; the latter were to be wholly 

1 Heb. X. 3. « Lev. iv. 3. ' Lev. iv. 22. 

* They also mention 248 affirmative precepts, or in all 613, according to the 
supposed number of members in the human body; 
^ Lev. xiv. 21. ® Luke ii. 24; Lev. xii. 8. ' Lev. v. i. 



Burnt y Sin, Trespass, and Peace- Offerings. 103 

burnt without the camp or city.^ In both cases, however, the 
^'inwards/* as ©numerated in Leviticus iv. 8, were always 
first burned on the altar of burnt-ofifering. Neither oil nor 
frankincense were to be brought with a sin-offering. There was 
nothing joyous about it It represented a terrible necessity, 
for which God, in His wondrous grace, had made provision. 

It only remains to explain in detail two peculiarities con- 
nected with the sin-offering. First, it differed according to the 
theocratic position of him who brought the sacrifice. For the 
high-priest on the Day of Atonement,^ or when he had sinned, 
*'to the rendering guilty of the people,"^ that is, in his official 
capacity as representing the people ; or if the whole congre- 
gation had sinned through ignorance ;* and at the consecration 
of the priests and Levites a bullock was to be brought. This 
was the highest kind of sin-offering. Next in order was that 
of the " kid of the goats," offered for the people on the Day 
of Atonement,^ and on the other festivals and New Moons f 
also for the ruler who had sinned through ignorance \f for the 
congregation if aught had been committed by any individual 
** without the knowledge of the congregation;"^ and, lastly, at 
the consecration of the Tabernacle.^ The third kind of sin- 
offering consisted of a female kid of the goats^® for individual 



1 According to the Talmud, if floves were brought as a sin-offering, the carcases 
were not burned, but went to the priests. 

* Lev. xvi. 3. ^ Lev. iv. 3. 

* Lev. iv. 13. The Rabbis apply this to erroneous decisions on the part of the 
Sanhedrim. 

^ Lev. xvi. 5. * Numb, xxviii. 15, etc. ; xxix. 5, etc. 

' Lev. iv. 23. ® Numb. xv. 24, ^ Lev. ix. 3, 15. 

*° It is not very easy to understand why goats should have been chosen in 
preference for sin-offerings, unless it were that their flesh was the most unpalatable 
of meat. 



I04 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

Israelites,^ and of a ewe lamb for a Nazarite^ and a leper.* 
The lowest grade of sin-offering was that of turtle-doves or 
young pigeons offered at certain purifications ;* or else as a 
substitute for other sacrifices in case of poverty — in extreme 
cases something resembling to, or " as a meat-offering " being 
even allowed.^ 

Secondly^ the blood of the sin-offering was sprinkled, not 
thrown. In the case of a private Israelite, it was sprinkled, 
that is, either jerked or dropped successively on each of the 
four horns® of the altar of burnt-offering — beginning at the 
south-east, thence going to the north-east, then the north- 
west, and finishing at the south-west, where the rest of the 
blood was poured at the bottom of the altar through two 
funnels that conducted into the Kedron. On the other hand, 
when offering bullocks and goats, whose carcases were to be 
burned without the camp, the officiating priest stood in the 
Holy Place, between the golden altar and the candlestick, and 
sprinkled of the blood seven times'^ towards the Most Holy 
Place, to indicate that the covenant-relationship itself had 
been endangered and was to be re-established, and afterwards 
touched with it the horns of the altar of incense. The most 
solemn of all sacrifices were those of the Day of Atonement, 
when the high-priest, arrayed in his linen garments, stood 
before the Lord Himself within the Most Holy Place to make 
an atonement. Every spot of blood from a sin-offering on a 
garment conveyed defilement, as being loaded with sin, and 
all vessels used for such sacrifices had either to be broken or 
scoured. 

1 Lev. iv. 28, etc. 5 v. 6. • Numb, vi, 14. • Lev. xiv. 10. 

* Lev. xii. 6; xv. 14, 29; Numb, vi, 10. • Lev. v. 11-13. 

® The * * horns " symbolised, as it were, the outstanding height and strength of 
tlie altar, ' Seven was the symbolical number of the covenant. 



Burnt y Sin, Trespass, and Peace- Offerings, 105 

Quite another phase of symbolic meaning was intended to 
be conveyed by the sacrificial meal which the priests were to 
make of the flesh of such sin-ofiferings as were not wholly 
burnt without the camp. Unquestionably Philo^ was right in 
suggesting, that one of the main objects of this meal was to 
carry to the offerer assurance of his acceptance, " since God 
would never have allowed His servants to partake of it, had 
there not been a complete removal and forgetting of the sin " 
atoned for. This view entirely accords with the statement in 
Lev. X. 17, where the purpose of this meal by the priests is 
said to be "to bear the iniquity of the congregation." Hence, 
also, the flesh of all sacrifices, either for the high-priest, as 
representing the priesthood, or for the whole people, had to 
be burnt ; because those who, as God's representatives, were 
alone allowed to eat the sacrificial meal were themselves 
among the offerers of the sacrifice. 

in. The trespass-offering was provided for certain trans- 
gressions committed through ignorance, or else, according to 
Jewish tradition, where a man afterwards voluntarily con- 
fessed himself guilty. The Rabbis arrange this class into 
those for a doubtful and for a certain trespass. The former 
were offered by the more scrupulous, when, uncertain whether 
they might not have committed an offence which, if done high- 
handed, would have implied being " cut off",'* or, if in ignorance, 
necessitated a sin-offering. Accordingly, the extreme party, or 
Chassidim, were wont to bring such a sacrifice every day ! 
On the other hand, the offering for certain trespasses covered 
five distinct cases,^ which had all this in common, that they 

* De Vict, 13. 

« Lev. V. 15 ; vi. 2 ; xix. 20 (in these three cases the offering was a ram) ; and 
Lev. xiv. 12, and Numb. vi. 12 (where the offering was a he-lamb). The Word of 



io6 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

represented a wrong for which a special ransom was to be 
given. It forms no exception to this principle, that a trespass- 
offering was also prescribed in the case of a healed leper,^ and 
in that of a Nazarite, whose vow had been interrupted by- 
sudden defilement with the dead,^ since leprosy was also 
symbolically regarded as a wrong to the congregation as a 
whole,^ while the interruption of the vow was a kind of wrong 
directly towards the Lord. But that this last was, at the 
same tirne, considered the lightest kind of trespass appears 
even from this— that, while ordinarily the flesh of the trespass- 
offering, after burning the inwards on the altar of burnt- 
offering,^ was only to be eaten by the officiating priests within 
the Holy Place, the lamb offered for such a Nazarite might be 
eaten by others also, and anywhere within Jerusalem. The 
blood of the trespass-offering (like that of the burnt-offering) 
was thrown on the corners of the altar below the red line. 

IV. The most joyous of all sacrifices was the peace-offerings 
or, as from its derivation it might also be rendered, the 
offering of completion.^ This was, indeed, a season of happy- 
fellowship with the Covenant God, in which He conde- 
scended to become Israel's Guest at the sacrificial meal, 
even as He was always their Host. Thus it symbolised the 
spiritual truth expressed in Rev. iii. 20 : " Behold, I stand at 
the door, and knock : if any man hear my voice, and open the 
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he 
with Me." In peace-offerings the sacrificial meal was the 
point of main importance. Hence the name "Sevach," by- 
God considers every wrong done to another, as also a wrong done against the 
Lord (Psa. li. 4), and hence, as needing a trespass-offering. 

^ Lev. xiv. 12. * Numb. vi. 10-12. 

^ Hence the leper was banished from the congregation. 

* Lev. vii. 3. * It always followed all the other saciifices. 



Burnt y Sin, Trespass , and Peace Offerings. 107 

which it is designated in the Pentateuch, and which means 
slaying, in reference to a meal. It is this sacrifice which is so 
frequently referred to in the Book of Psalms as the grateful 
homage of a soul justified and accepted before God.^ If, on 
the one hand, then, the " offering of completion " indicated 
that there was complete peace with God, on the other, it 
was also literally the offering of completeness. The peace- 
offerings were either public or private. The two lambs 
offered every year at Pentecost ^ were a public peace-offering, 
and the only one which was regarded as " most holy." As 
such they were sacrificed at the north side of the altar, and 
their flesh eaten only by the officiating priests, and within the 
Holy Place. The other public peace-offerings were slain at the 
south side, and their " inwards '' burnt on the altar.^ Then, 
after the priests had received their due, the rest was to be* 
eaten by the offerers themselves, either within the courts of 
the Temple or in Jerusalem.^ On one occasion (i Kings 
viii. 63) no less than 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep were 
so offered. Private peace-offerings were of a threefold kind :^ 
''sacrifices of thanksgiving,''^ "vows,'' and strictly "voluntary 
offerings."^ The first were in general acknowledgment of 
mercies received ; the last, the free gift of loving hearts, as 
even the use of the same term in Ex. xxv. 2, xxxv. 29 
implies. Exceptionally in this last case, an animal that 
had anything either '* defective " or " superfluous " might be 
offered.^ 

Peace-offerings were brought either of male or of female 
animals (chiefly of the former), but not of pigeons, the 

1 Psa. li. 17; liv. 6. ; Ivi. 12; cxvi. 17, 18. • Lev. xxiii. 19. 

* Lev. iii. 4, 5. * Deut. xxvii. 7. ^ Lev. vii. 11. 

• Lev. vii. 12. ^ Lev. vii. 16. ^ Lev. xxii. 23. 



io8 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

sacrifice being, of course, always accompanied by a meat- and 
a drink-offering.^ As every other sacrifice, they needed im- 
position of hands, confession, and sprinkling of blood, the 
latter being done as in the burnt-offering. Then the " inwards '* 
were taken out and " waved *' before the Lord, along with 
**the breast" and the "right shoulder" (or, perhaps more 
correctly, the right leg). In reference to these two wave- 
offerings we remark, that the breast properly belonged to the 
Lord, and that He gave it to His priests,^ while Israel gave 
the " right shoulder " directly to the priests.^ The ritual of 
waving has already been described,^ the meaning of the 
movement being to present the sacrifice, as it were, to the 
Lord, and then to receive it back from Him. The Rabbinical 
suggestion, that there was a distinct rite of " heaving " besides 
that of " waving," seems only to rest on a misunderstanding 
of such passages as Lev. ii. 2, 9 ; vii. 32 ; x. 15, etc.^ The 
following were to be " waved " before the Lord : the breast 
of the peace-offering ;^ the parts mentioned at the consecration 
of the priests ;7 the first omer at the Passover ;^ the jealousy- 
offering ;^ the offering at the close of a Nazarite^s vow ;^^ the 
offering of a cleansed leper ;^^ and ''the two lambs "presented 
" with the bread of the firstfruits," at the Feast of Taber- 
nacles.^^ The two last-mentioned offerings were "waved" 
before being sacrificed. After the " waving," the " inwards " ^^ 

* Lev. vii. 11, etc. * Lev. vii. 30. ^ Lev. vii. 32. 

* The pieces were laid on the hands as follows : the feet, and then the breast, 
the right shoulder, the kidneys, the caul of the liver, and, in the case of a thank- 
offering, the bread upon it all. 

® The "heave" is, in reality, only the technical term for the priest's ** taking** 
his portion. ^ Lev. vii. 30. '^ Lev. viii. 25-29. 

^ Lev. xxiii. 1 1, ® Numb. v. 25. ^^ Numb. vi. 20. 

u Lev. xiv. 12. ^ Lev. xxiii. 20. ^ Lev. iii. 3-5, etc. 



Burnt ^ Sin, Trespass, and Peace-Offerings. 109 

were burnt on the altar of burnt-offering, and the rest eaten 
either by priests or worshippers, the longest term allowed in 
any case for the purpose being two days and a night from the 
time of sacrifice. Of course, the guests, among whom were 
to be the Levites and the poor, must all be in a state of 
Levitical purity, symbolical of " the wedding garment " needful 
at the better gospel-feast. 

We close with a few particulars about meat-offerings. 
These were either brought in conjunction with burnt- and 
peace-offerings (but never with sin- or with trespass-offerings) 
or else by themselves. The latter were €\\h^x public ox private 
meat-offerings. The three public meat-offerings were : the 
twelve loaves of shewbread, renewed every sabbath, and after- 
wards eaten by the priests ; the omer, or sheaf of the harvest, 
on the second day of the Passover ; and the two wave-loaves 
at Pentecost. Four of the private meat-offerings were en- 
joined by the law, viz. : i, the daily meat-offering of the high- 
priest, according to the Jewish interpretation of Lev. vi. 20 ; 
2, that at the consecration of priests ;^ 3, that in substi- 
tution for a sin-offering, in case of poverty ;- and that of 
jealousy.^'' The following five were purely voluntary, viz., 
that of fine flour with oil, unbaken ;^ that "baken in a pan ;" 
'* in a frying-pan ;" "in the oven;" and the "wafers."^ All 
these offerings were to consist of at least one omer of corn 
(which was the tenth part of an ephah).^ But any larger 
number under 61 omers might be offered, the reason of the 
limitation being, that as the public meat-offerings enjoined 
on the Feast of Tabernacles amounted to 6\^ all private 

^ Lev. vL 20. * Lev. v. ii, 12. ^ Numb. v. 15. 

* Lev. ii. I. ^ Lev. ii. 4-7. ® Ex. xvi. 36. 

' See Relancks, p. 353. This, however, only when the feast fell on a sabbath. 



1 1 o The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

offerings must be less than that number. In all baken meat- 
offerings, an "omer" was always made into ten cakes — the 
symbolical number of completeness — except in that of the high- 
priest's daily meat offering, of which twelve cakes were baken, 
as representative of Israel. Finally, as the Rabbis express it, 
every meat-offering prepared in a vessel had '* three pourings 
of oil " — first into the vessel, then to mingle with the flour, and 
lastly, after it was ready — the frankincense being then put 
upon it. The " wafers " were " anointed '' with oil, after the 
form of the Hebrew letter 3, or the Greek letter K, as they 
explain, "to run down in two parts." ^ 

When presenting a meat-offering, the priest first brought it 
in the golden or silver dish in which it had been prepared, and 
then transferred it to a holy vessel, putting oil and frankin- 
cense upon it. Taking his stand at the south-eastern corner 
of the altar, he next took the '' handful '' that was actually to 
be burnt, put it in another vessel, laid some of the frankin- 
cense on it, carried it to the top of the altar, salted it, and 
then placed it on the fire. The rest of the meat-offering 
belonged to the priests.^ Every meat-offering was accom- 

1 The subjoined Rabbinical table may be of use : 
Meat-offerings — 

Requiriftg the addition of oil and frankincense : Of fine flour unbaken ; baken 
in a pan; baken in a frying-pan; baken in the oven; the ** wafers;" the high- 
priest's daily and the priest's consecration offering; the flour from the ** sheaf" 
oifered on the second day of the Passover. Requiring oil without frankiftcense : 
All meat-offerings, accompanying a burnt- or a peace-offering. Requiring frank" 
incense without oil: The shewbread. Requiring neither oil nor fvankhtcense : 
The two loaves at Pentecost ; the jealousy- offering ; and that in substitution for 
a sin-offering. 

* Except in the meat-offering of the high-priest, and of priests at their consecra- 
tion ; the exception in both cases for the obvious reason already referred to in 
ex]»laining sacrificial meals. Similarly, the meat-offerings connected with burnt. 
sacrifices were wholly consumed on the altar. 



Btirnt^ Sin^ Trespass, and Peace-Offerings. iii 

panied by a drink-offering of wine, which was poured at the 
base of the altar. 

So complicated a service, and one which enjoined such 
frequent sacrifices, must always have kept a large number of 
priests busy in the courts of the Temple. This was especially 
the case on the great festivals ; and if the magnificent Temple 
could hold its 210,000 worshippers — if the liturgy, music, and 
ritual were equally gorgeous — we cannot wonder that it re- 
quired multitudes of white-robed priests properly to discharge 
its ministry. Tradition has it, that on the Day of Atonement 
no less than five hundred priests were wont to assist in the 
services. On other feast-days even more must have been 
engaged, as it was a Rabbinical principle, '* that a man should 
bring all his offerings, that were either due from him or volun- 
tarily dedicated, at the solemn festival that cometh next" 
In other words, if a man incurred a sacrifice, or voluntarily 
promised one, he was to bring it when next he came to Jeru- 
salem. But even this provision showed " the weakness and un- 
profitableness thereof," since in all ordinary cases a long time 
must have elapsed before the stain of guilt could be con- 
sciously removed by an atoning sacrifice, or a vow performed. 
Blessed be God, the reality in Christ Jesus in this, as in all 
other things, far out-distances the type ! For we have always 
"liberty to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus;" 
and " if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an 
heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of 
the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who 
through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to 
God, purge vour conscience from dead works to serve the 
living God!" 



CHAPTER VIL 

AT NIGHT IN THE TEMPLE. 
** Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments." — Rev. xvL IS# 

THERE is a marked peculiarity and also a special 
charm about the allusions of the *' beloved disciple " 
to the "Temple and its services." The other New Testa- 
ment writers refer to them in their narratives, or else explain 
their types, in such language as any well-informed worshipper 
at Jerusalem might have employed. But John writes not 
like an ordinary Israelite. He has eyes and ears for details 
which others would have left unnoticed. As, according to a 
Jewish tradition, the high-priest read the Divine answer of 
the Urim and Thummim by a heavenly light cast upon 
special letters in the names of the tribes graven upon his 
breastplate, so to John the presence and the words of Jesus 
seem to render luminous the well-remembered services of the 
Temple. This, as we shall have frequent occasion to show, 
appears in his Gospel, but much more in the Book of Revela- 
tion. Indeed, the Apocalypse, as a whole, may be likened 
to the Temple services in its mingling of prophetic symbols 
with worship and praise. But it is specially remarkable, that 
the temple-references with which the Book of Revelation 



At Night in the Temple. 113 

abounds are generally to mimtticey which a writer who 
had not been as familiar with such details, as only personal 
contact and engagement with them could have rendered him, 
would scarcely have even noticed, certainly not employed 
as part of his imagery. They come in naturally, sponta- 
neously, and so unexpectedly, that the reader is occasionally 
in danger of overlooking them altogether ; and in language 
such as a professional man would employ, which would come 
to him from the previous exercise of his calling. Indeed, 
some of the most striking of these references could not have 
been understood at all without the professional treatises of 
the Rabbis on the Temple and its services. Only the studied 
minuteness of Rabbinical descriptions, derived from the 
tradition of eye-witnesses, does not leave the same impres- 
sion as the unstudied illustrations of St. John. These natu- 
rally suggest the twofold inference that the Book of Revelation 
and the Fourth Gospel must have been written before the 
Temple services had actually ceased, and by one who had 
not merely been intimately acquainted with, but probably 
at one time an actor in them.^ The argument may be illus- 

^ This is not the place for further critical discussions. Though the arguments in 
■ support of our view are only inferential, they seem to us none the less conclusive. 
It is not only that the name of John (given also to the son of the priest Zacharias) 
reappears among the kindred of the high-priest (Acts iv. 6), nor that his priestly 
descent would account for that acquaintance with the high-priest (John xviii. 15, 
16) which gave him access apparently into the council-chamber itself, while Peter, 
for whom he had gained admittance to the palace, was in **the porch;" nor yet 
that, though residing in Galilee, the house of '*his own'' to which he took the 
mother of Jesus (John xix. 27) was probably at Jerusalem, like that of other 
priests — notably of the Levite family of Barnabas (Acts xii. 12) — a supposition con- 
firmed by his apparent entertainment of, Peter, when Mary Magdalene found them 
together on the morning of the resurrection (John xx. 2). But it seems highly 
improbable that a book so full of liturgical allusions as the Book of Revelation — 

I 



114 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

trated by an analogous case. Quite lately, they who have 
dug under the ruins of the Temple have discovered one of 
those tablets in the Court of the Temple which warned 
Gentiles, on pain of death, not to advance farther into the 
sanctuary. The tablet answers exactly to the description 
of Josephus, and its inscription is almost literally as he gives 
it.^ This tablet seems like a witness suddenly appearing, 
after eighteen centuries, to bear testimony to the narrative 
of Josephus as that of a contemporary writer. Much the 
same instantaneous conviction, only greatly stronger, is 
carried to our minds, when, in the midst of some dry account 
of what went on in the Temple, we suddenly come upon the 
very words which St. John had employed to describe heavenly 
realities. Perhaps one of the most striking instances of this 
kind is afforded by the words quoted at the head of this 
chapter — '* Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his 
garments." They literally describe, as we learn from the 
Rabbis, the punishment awarded to the Temple-guards if 
found asleep at their posts ; and the Rabbinical account of it 
is curiously confirmed by the somewhat naive confession 
of one of their number,^ that on a certain occasion his own 
maternal uncle had actually undergone the punishment of 
having his clothes set on fire by the captain of the Temple 
as he went his rounds at night. 



and these, many of them, not to great or important points, but to minutice — could 
have been written by any other than a priest, and one who had at one time been in 
actual service in the Temple itself, and thus become so intimately conversant with 
its details, that they came to him naturally, as part of the imagery he employed. 

^ See tlje account of this remarkable discovery by M. Clermont-Ganneau in his 
letter to the Athenceum^ reprinted in the Quarterly Statement of the Palestim 
Exploration Fundiox August, 1 87 1, pp. 132, 133. 

• Rabbi Elieser ben Jacob. See Middoth^ i. 2. 



Ai Night in the Temple. 115 

For the service of the officiating ministers was not only by 
day, but also '' at night in the Temple." From Scripture we 
know that the ordinary services of the sanctuary consisted of 
the morning and evening sacrifices. To these the Rabbis add 
another evening service, probably to account for their own 
transference of the evening service to a much later hour than I 
that of the sacrifice/ There is, however, some difficulty 
about the exact time when each of the sacrifices was offered. 
According to general agreement, the morning sacrifice was j 
brought at the " third hour," corresponding to our nine o'clock. \ 
But the preparations for it must have commenced more 
than two hours earher. Few, if any, worshippers could have 
witnessed the actual slaying of the lamb, which took place 
immediately on opening the great Temple-gate. Possibly 
they may have gathered chiefly to join in the prayer *' at the 
time of incense."^ In the modified sense, then, of understand- 
ing by the morning sacrifice the whole service, it no doubt 
coincided with the third hour of the day, or 9 A.M. This may 
explain how on the day of Pentecost such a multitude could 
so readily " come together," to hear in their various tongues 
"the wonderful works of God " — seeing it was the third hour,' 
when they would all be in the Temple. The evening sacrifice 
was fixed by the law * as " between the evenings," that is, 
between the darkness of the gloaming and that of the night.® 

^ The Rabbinical statement about a correspondence between that service and 
'* the burning of the yet unconsumed fat and flesh " of the sacrifices (which must 
have lasted all night) is so far-fetched that we wonder to see it in Kitto's Cyclo- 
pcedia, third edition (art. Synagogue), while Gratz's assertion that it corresponded 
to the closing of the Temple gates \Gesch.^ vol. iii. p. 97) is quite unsupported. 

^ Luke i. 10. 2 Acts ii. 15. * Numb, xxviii. 4, 8. 

5 Sunset was calculated as on an average at 6 o'clock p.m. For a full discus- 
sion and many speculations on the whole subject, see Herzfeld, Gesch. d. V, Is., 
vol. iii. Excurs xxiv. par. 2. 



\ 



Ii6 T^e Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

Such admonitions as " to show forth thy faithfulness every 
night upon an instrument of ten strings and on the psaltery,"^ 
and the call to those who '^ by night stand in the house of the 
Lord," to ** lift up their hands in the sanctuary and bless the 
Lord,"^ seem indeed to imply an evening service — an impres- 
4 sion confirmed by the appointment of Levite singers for night 
service in i Chron. ix. 33 ; xxiii. 30. But at the time of our 
Lord the evening sacrifice certainly commenced much earlier. 
Josephus puts it down ^ as at the ninth hour. According to 
the Rabbis the lamb was slain at the eighth hour and a-half, 
or about 2.30 P.M., and the pieces laid on the altar an hour 
later — about 3.30 P.M. Henice, when " Peter and John went 
up together into the Temple at the hour of prayer, being the 
ninth hour,"* it must have been for the evening sacrifice, or 
rather half an hour later, and, as the words indicate, for the 
** prayer" that accompanied the offering of incense. The 
evening service was somewhat shorter than that of the morning, 
and would last, at any rate, about an hour and a-half, say till 
about four o'clock, thus well meeting the original requirement 
in Numb, xxviii. 4. After that no other offering might be 
brought except on the eve of the Passover, when the ordinary 
evening sacrifice took place two hours earlier, or at 12.30 P.M.^ 
We can conceive the laborious work of the day over, and 
the rest and solemnity of " night in the Temple" begun. The 
last notes of the Temple music have died out, and the wor- 
shippers slowly retired, some after lingering for private prayer, 

^ Psa, xcii. 2, 3. * Psa. cxxxiv. ^ Ant. xiv. 4, 3. * Acts iii. i. 

5 Accordingly .the Rabbis laid down the principle that evening prayers (of 

course, out of the Temple) might be lawfully said at any time after 12.30 P. M. This 

explains how *' Peter went up upon the house-top to pray about the sixth hour,'* 

I or about 12 o'clock (Acts x. 9) — or to what was really "evening prayer." Comp. 

i Kitto's Cycl, iii. p. 904. 



At Night in the Temple. 117 

or else tarrying in one of the marble porches. Already the 
short Eastern day is fading out in the west Far over the 
mountains of Gibeon the sun is sinking in that ocean across 
which the better light is so soon to shine. The new company 
of priests and Levites who are to conduct the services of the 
morrow are coming up from Ophel under the leadership of 
their heads of houses, their elders. Those who have officiated 
during the day are preparing to leave by another gate. They 
have put off their priestly dress, depositing it in the appointed 
chambers, and resumed that of ordinary laymen, and their 
sandals. For such, although not shoes, might be worn in the 
Temple, the priests being barefoot only during their actual 
ministry. Nor did they otherwise wear any distinctive dress, 
not even the high-priest himself, nor yet those who performed 
in the Temple other than strictly sacrificial services.^ As 
for the Levites, they had no clerical dress at all, but only 
wore the white linen,^ till they obtained from Agrippa II. 
permission to wear priestly garments — as Josephus rightly 
remarks, '* contrary to the laws of our country."^ 

We know that on Sabbaths at least, when one company gave 
place to another, or, rather, as the outgoing course left the 
Temple precincts, they parted from each other with a fare- 
well, reminding us of St. Paul's to the Corinthians,* '* He 
that has caused His name to dwell in this house cause love, 
brotherhood, peace, and friendship to dwell among you." 

1 Those who,. being declared physically unfit, discharged only menial functions, 
wore not the priestly dress. They on whom no lot had fallen for daily minis- 
tration put off their priestly garments — all save the linen breeches — and also per- 
formed subordinate functions. But, according to some, it was lawful for priests while 
in the Temple to wear their peculiar dress — all but the girdle, worn always and 
only on sacrificial duty. 

2 2 Chron. v. 12. ' Ant, xx. 9, 6. * 2 Cor. xiii. 11. 



1 1 8 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

Each of the twenty-four *' courses " into which not only the 
priests and Levites, but also all Israel, by means of repre- 
sentatives, were divided, served for one week, from Sab- 
bath to Sabbath, distributing the daily service among their 
respective "families" or ** houses." For the Sabbath the 
new ministrants came earlier than on week-days.^ As the 
"family" whose daily " ministration was accomplished" left 
the Temple, the massive gates were closed by priests or 
Levites, some requiring the united strength of twenty men. 
Then the Temple keys were hung up in a hollow square, 
under a marble slab in the " fire-room " (Beth-ha-Moked), 
which may also be designated as the chief guard-room of the 
priests. Now, as the stars were shining out on the deep blue 
Eastern sky, the priests would gather for converse^ or the 
evening meal.^ Pieces of the sacrifices and the " prepared " 
first-fruits (the Therumoth) supplied the needful refreshments.* 
Though the work of the day was over, certain arrangements 
had yet to be made. For the Levites in charge of collecting 
the tithes and other business details were wont to purchase 
in large quantities what each who brought any sacrifice 
needed for meat and drink off*erings, and to sell it to the 
offerers. This was a great accommodation to the worshipper, 
and a source of daily profit to the Tem.ple. On payment of 

1 Probably this had also been the arrangement in the first Temple. See 
2 Kings xi. 9; 2 Chron. xxiii. 8. Herzfeld, u, s, p. 185. 

^ The question of evening prayers in the Temple is involved in some difficulty. 
The curious reader will find it discussed by Herzfeld with almost confusing 
minuteness. 

3 The partaking of sacred things by priests who had been ceremonially unclean 
is expressly stated by the Rabbis as ** when the stars shone out." 

* The Therumoth, such as oil, flour, etc., in opposition to those au naiurel^ sucli 
as com, fruits, etc, called the Biccuriio, 



Ai Night in the Temple. 119 

a price, fixed by tariff every month, the offerer received his 
proper counterfoil,^ in exchange for which a Temple official 
gave him what he needed for his sacrifice. Now, the accounts 
t)f these transactions had to be made up and checked' every 
evening. 

But already the night-watches had been set in the Temple. 
By day and night it was the duty of the Levites to keep 
guard at the gates, to prevent, so far as possible, the un- 
clean from entering. To them the duties of the Temple 
police were also entrusted, under the command of an official 
known to us in the New Testament as the " captain of the 
Temple,''^ but in Jewish writings chiefly as *^the man of the 
Temple Mount.*' The office must have been of considerable 
responsibility, considering the multitude on feast days, their 
keen national susceptibilities, and the close proximity of the 
hated Romans in Fort Antonia. At night guards were placed 
in twenty-four stations about the gates and courts. Of these 
twenty-one were occupied by Levites alone ; the other inner- 
most three jointly by priests and Levites.^ Each guard con- 
sisted of ten men ; so that in all 240 Levites and thirty 
priests were on duty every night. The Temple guards were 
relieved by day, but not during the night, which the Romans 
divided into four, but the Jews, properly, into three watches, 
the fourth being really the morning watch,* Hence, when 
the Lord saith, ^* Blessed are those servants whom the lord 

1 Of these there were four kinds, respectively bearing the words **male," when 
the sacrifice was a ram; ** sinner," when it was a sin-offering; and for other 
offerings, ** calf," or *' kid." 

^ Acts iv. I, etc. 

* The watch at some of the gates seems at one time to have been hereditary in 
certain families. For this, see Herzfeld, vol. i. p. 419 ; ii. p. 57. 

* Compare Matt. xiv. 25, Sec, however, the discussion in Jer. Ber, i. I, 



I20 The Temphy its Ministry and Services. 

when he cometh shall find watching," He expressly refers to 
the second and third watches as those of deepest sleep/ 

During the night the '' captain of the Temple " made his 
rounds. On his approach the guards had to rise and salute 
him in a particular manner. Any guard found asleep when 
on duty was beaten, or his garments were set on fire — a 
punishment, as we know, actually awarded. Hence the 
admonition to us who, as it were, are here on Temple guard, 
** Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments."* 
But, indeed, there could have been little inclination to sleep 
within the Temple, even had the deep emotion natural in the 
circumstances allowed it. True, the chief of the course and 
" the heads of families " reclined on couches along that part of 
the Beth-Moked in which it was lawful to sit down,^ and the 
older priests might lie on the floor, having wrapped their 
priestly garments beside them, while the younger men kept 
watch. But then the preparations for the service of the 
morning required each to be early astir. The priest whose 
duty it was to superintend the arrangements might any 
moment knock at the door and demand entrance. He came 
suddenly and unexpectedly, no one knew when. The Rabbis 
use almost the very words in which Scripture describes the 
unexpected coming of the Master,* when they say, *' Some- 
times he came at the cock-crowing, sometimes a little earlier, 
sometimes a little later. He came and knocked, and they 
opened to him. Then said he unto them, All ye who 
have washed, come and cast lots."^ For the customary bath 

' Luke xii. 38. 3 Rev. xvi. 15. 

3 The part built out on the Chel ; for it was not lawful for any but the king to 
sit down anywhere within the enclosure of the ** Priests' Court." 
* Mark xiii. 35. * Mishnah, Ta?nid, L I5 «« 



At Night in the Temple. 121 

required to have been taken before the superintending priest 
came round, since it was a principle that none might go into 
the court to serve, although he were clean, unless he had 
bathed. A subterranean passage, lit on both sides, led to the 
well-appointed bath-rooms where the priests immersed them- 
selves. After that they needed not^ all that day to wash again, 
save their hands and feet, which they had to do each time, 
however often, they came for service into the Temple. It 
was, no doubt, to this that our Lord referred in His reply to 
Peter : " He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, 
but is clean every whit."^ 

Those who were prepared now followed the superintending 
priest through a wicket into the court. Here they divided 
into two companies, each carrying a torch, except on the 
Sabbaths, when the Temple itself was lit up. One company 
passed eastwards, the other westwards, till, having made their 
circuit of inspection, they met at the chamber where the 
high-priest's daily meat-offering was prepared,^ and reported, 
*' It is well ! All is well ! " Thereupon those who were to 
prepare the high-priest's offering were set to their work, and 
the priests passed into the '* Hall of Polished Stones,"* to 
cast lots for the services of the day. This arrangement had 
been rendered necessary by certain painful scenes to which 
the eagerness of the priests for service had led. Altogether 
the lot was cast four times, though at different periods of the 
service. It was done in this manner. The priests stood in 

1 Except under one circumstance. 

2 John xiii. lo. The pecuHarities of our Lord's washing the feet of the disciples 
are pointed out in Lightfoot, Hor. Heb., p. 1094. 

3 Lev. vi. 12-16, according to the Rabbinical interpretation of the law. 

* Or Gazith, where also the Sanhedrim met. The sittings were, in that part, 
■juilt out on the CheU 



122 The Temphy its Ministry and Services. 

a circle around the president, who for a moment removed 
the head-gear of one of their number, to show that he would 
begin counting at him. Then all held up one, two, or more 
fingers — since it was not lawful in Israel to count persons-^ 
when the president named some number, say seventy, and 
began counting the fingers till he reached the number named, 
which marked that the lot had fallen on that priest. The first 
lot was for cleansing the altar and preparing it ; the second, for 
those who were to offer the sacrifice, and for those who were to 
cleanse the candlestick and the altar of incense in the Holy 
Place. The third lot was the most important. It determined 
who was to ofier the incense. If possible, none was to take 
part in it who had at any previous time officiated in the 
same capacity. The fourth lot, which followed close on the 
third, fixed those who were to burn the pieces of the sacrifice 
on the altar, and to perform the concluding portions of the 
service. The morning lot held good also for the same offices 
at the evening sacrifice, save that the lot was cast anew for 
the burning of the incense. 

When the priests were gathered for '* the first lot " in 
the " Hall of Polished Stones," as yet only the earliest glow 
of morning light streaked the Eastern sky. Much had to be 
done before the lamb itself could be slain. It was a law 
that, as no sacrifice might be brought after that of the 
evening, nor after the sun had set, so, on the other hand, 
the morning sacrifice was only to be slain after the morning 
light had lit up " the whole sky as far as Hebron," yet before 
the sun had actually risen upon the horizon.^ The only 
exception was on the great festivals^ when the altar was 

* Maimonides, Yad ha Chazakah^ the tractate on the daily sacrifice, ch. i. par, 2. 



At Night in the Temple. 123 

cleansed much earlier/ to afford time for examining before 
actual sunrise the very numerous sacrifices which were to 
be brought during the day. Perhaps it was on this ground, 
that on the morning of the Passover they who led Jesus from 
Caiaphas thronged so " early " " the judgment-hall of Pilate." 
Thus, while some of them would be preparing in the Tempb 
to offer the morning sacrifice, others were at the same 
moment unwittingly fulfilling the meaning of that very type, 
when He on whom was ** laid the iniquity of us all " was 
''brought as a lamb to the slaughter." * 

1 For the three great festivals, in the first watch ; for the Day of Atonement, at 
midnight. See also Lightfoot, Hor. Heb,^ p. 1135. 

2 Isa. liii. 7, 



CHAPTER VIIL 

THE MORNING AND THE EVENING SACRIFICE.* 

•* And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest's office before God in the 

order of his course, according to the custom of the priest's office, his lot was 

to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. And the whole 

(^ multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense." — 

Luke i. 8-10. 

BEFORE proceeding to describe the "morning sacrifice," 
it is necessary to advert to a point of considerable 
interest and importance. There can be no doubt that, at the 
time of Christ, public prayer occupied a very prominent 
place in the ordinary daily services of the Temple. Yet the 
original institution in the law of Moses contains no mention of 
it ; and such later instances as the prayer of Hannah, or that 
of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple, afford neither 
indication nor precedent as regards the ordinary public ser- 
vices. The confession of the high-priest over the scape-goat ^ 
cannot be regarded as public prayer. Perhaps the nearest 
approach to it was on occasion of offering the first-fruits, 
especially in that concluding entreaty : ^ " Look down from 
Thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Thy people 
Israel, and the land which Thou hast given us, as Thou 
swarest unto our fathers, a land that floweth with milk and 

I In Hebrew, Tamid^ the constant sacrifice, sacrificium juge. 

» Lev. xvl 21. ^ Deut. xxvi. 15. 



The Morning and the Event7tg Sacrifice. 125 

honey." But, after all, this was again private, not public 
prayer, and offered on a private occasion, far different from 
the morning and evening sacrifices. The wording of King 
Solomon's prayer ^ implies indeed an act of united and con- 
gregational worship, but, strictly speaking, it conveys no more 
than that public supplication was wont to be offered in times of 
public necessity. 2 Nor can anything definite be inferred from 
the allusions of Isaiah to the hypocrisy of his contemporaries ^ 
in spreading forth their hands and making many prayers.* 

It was otherwise after the return from Babylon, With 
the institution and spread of synagogues — designed for the 
twofold purpose, that in every place Moses should be read 
every Sabbath day, and to provide a place ''where prayer 
was wont to be made " — the practice of public worship soon 
became general. In Neh. xi. 17 we find already a special 
appointment ** to begin the thanksgiving in prayer.'' After- 
wards progress in this direction was rapid. The Apocrypha 
afford painful evidence hov/ soon all degenerated into a mere 
form, and how prayer became a work of self-righteousness, 
by which merit might be obtained. This brings us to the 
Pharisees of the New Testament, with their ostentatious dis- 
plays of devotion, and the hypocrisy of their endless prayers, 
full of needless repetitions and odious self-assertion. At the 
outset we here meet, as usual, at least seeming contradictions. 
On the one hand the Rabbis define every attitude and gesture 
in prayer, fix the most rigid formulas, trace each of them up 
to one of the patriarchs,^ and would have us believe that the 

^ I Kings viii. ^ j Kings viii. 30-52. * Isaiah i. 15. 

* Such language as that of Psa. xxvii. 4 seems also to point to the absence of any 
liturgy : " to behold the beauty of the Lord." 

^ The Rabbis ascribe the origin of the morning prayeps to Abraham, that of the 



126 The TempUy its Ministry and Services. 

pious have their nine hours of devotion, laying down this 
curious principle, suited to both worlds — ^* Prolix prayer pro- 
tracts life." On the other hand, they also tell us that prayer 
may be contracted within the narrowest limits, and that a mere 
summary of the prescribed formulas is sufficient ; while some 
of their number go the length of strenuously contending for 
free prayer. In fact, free prayer, liturgical formulas, and special 
prayers taught by celebrated Rabbis, were alike in use. Free 
prayer would find its place in such private devotions as are 
described in the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee. 
It also mingled with the prescribed liturgical formulas. 
It may be questioned whether, even in reference to the latter, 
the words were always rigidly adhered to, perhaps even accu- 
rately remembered. Hence the Talmud lays it down (in the 
treatise BerachotJi)^ that in such cases it sufficed to say the 
substance of the prescribed prayers. 

That liturgical formulas were used not only in the 
Temple, but in the daily private devotions, cannot be 
doubted. The first trace of them appears so early as in the 
arrangement of the Psalter, each of its first four books closing 
with a " eulogy," or benediction,^ and the fifth book with a 
psalm which may be designated as one grand doxology.^ 
Although it is a task of no small difficulty to separate the 
ancient prayers of Temple-times from the later additions, 
which have gradually swelled into the present Jewish prayer- 
book, it has, in great measure, successfully been accom- 
plished.^ Besides such liturgical formulas, some prayers 

afternoon prayers to Isaac, and of the, evening prayers to Jacob. In each case sup- 
posed scriptural evidence for it is dragged in bysome artificial mode of interpretation. 

1 Psa. xli. ; Ixxii. ; Ixxxix. ; cvi. 2 psa. cl. 

2 We here specially refer to the classical work of Zunz, Die GoUesd. Vortr: (L 
Juden, Berlin, 1832. 



The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice. 127 

taught by celebrated Rabbis have been preserved. It was in 
accordance with this practice that John the Baptist seems 
to have given forms of prayer to his followers, and that the 
disciples asked the Saviour to teach them to pray.^ 

The prayer spoken by the Lord far transcended any that 
Jewish Rabbis ever conceived, even where its wording most 
nearly approaches theirs.^ It is characteristic that two of its 
petitions find no real counterpart in the prayers of the 
Rabbis. These are : '* Forgive us our trespasses," and '* Lead 
us not into temptation." In the Temple the people never 
responded to the prayers by an Amen, but always with this 
benediction, "Blessed be the name of the glory of His king- 
dom for ever ! "^ This formula was traced up to the patriarch 
Jacob, on his death-bed. In regard to "the kingdom," what- 
ever the Rabbis understood by it, the feeling was so strong, 
that it was said : " Any prayer which makes not mention of 
the kingdom, is not a prayer at all." 

The attitude to be observed during prayer is very accu- 
rately defined by the Rabbis. The worshipper was to 
stand, turning towards the Holy Place ; he was to com- 
pose his body and his clothes, to draw his feet close 
together, to cast down his ^y^s, at least at the beginning of 
his prayer, to cross his hands over his breast, and to " stand 

* Luke xi. i. 

^ It must always be kept in mind that such expressions as ** Our Father," ** Thy 
kingdom come," and others like them, meant in the mouth of the Rabbis a pre- 
dominance of the narrowest Judaism ; in fact, the subjection of all the world to 
Rabbinical ordinances, and the carnal glory of Israel. 

^ Thus the words in our Authorized Version, Matt. vi. 13, "For thine is the 
kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen," which are wanting in 
all the most ancient MSS., are only the common Temple-formula of response, 
and as such may have found their way into the text. The word ** Amen " was in 
reality a solemn asseveration or a mode of oath. 



r 



128 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

as a servant before his master, with all reverence and fear.** 
Even the priests, while ^pronouncing the priestly blessing, 
were to look to the ground. In regard to the special manner 
of bowing before the Lord, a distinction was made between 
bending the knees, bending the head, and falling prostrate on 
the ground. The latter was not deemed ''fit for every man, 
but only for such as knew themselves righteous men, like 
Joshua."! 

In general the Rabbis distinguish two elements in prayer, 
on the ground of the two terms used by Solomon,^ — thanks- 
giving and petition. To these correspond the two kinds of 
early Jewish prayer : the Eulogies and the Tephillah.^ And 
thus far correctly, as the two Hebrew words for prayer 
indicate, the one adoration, the other supplication, or, rather, 
intercession.^ Both kinds of prayer found expression in the 
Temple services. But only after the manifestation of Him, 
who in His person united the Divine with the human nature, 
could adoration and supplication be fully called out. Nay, 
the idea of supplication would only be properly realised after 
the outpouring of the Spirit of adoption, whereby the people 
of God also became the children of God. Hence it is not 
correct to designate sacrifices as "prayers without words," ^. 
The sacrifices were in no sense prayers, but rather the pre- 
paration for prayer. The Tabernacle was, as its Hebrew 
designation shows, the place *' of meeting''^ between God and 

1 See Lightfoot, De Minist. Templi, ch. x. sect. 10. ^ j Kings viii. 28. 

3 We regret not to enter more fully on the subject of prayer among the Hebrews 
or on an analysis of the remnants of prayers in Temple-times preserved to us. 
But this is not the place for such discussions. See, however, a note farther on in 
this chapter. 

* Delitzsch, Bibl. Com. iiber Is.^ p. 45 note. 

* Pressel, in Herzog's EncycL, vol. iv. p. 680. 

* The Ohel Moed.^ ** tabernacle of meeting" — not "of the congregation,"' as in 



The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice. 129 

Israel ; the sacrificial service, that which made such meeting 
possible ; and the priest (as the root of the word implies), he 
who brought Israel near to God. Hence prayer could only 
follow after the sacrifice ; and its appropriate symbol and time 
was the burning of incense. This view is expressed in the 
words: "Let my prayer be set forth before Thee as incense,"^ 
and authoritatively confirmed in Rev. v. 8, where we read of 
the "golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of 
saints." 

It is this burning of incense which in the Gospel is 
alluded to in connection with the birth of John the Baptist.^ 
Zacharias had come up from the hill country of Judea, from 
the neighbourhood of priestly Hebron, to minister in the 
Temple.^ His course — that of Abia — was on duty for the 
week, and the " house of his fathers " for that special day. 
More than that, the lot had fallen on Zacharias for the most 
honourable service in the daily ministry — that of burning the 
incense on the golden altar within the Holy Place. For the 
first time in his life, and for the last, would this service devolve 
on him. As the pious old priest ministered within the Holy 
Place, he saw with such distinctness that he could afterwards 
describe the very spot, Gabriel standing, as if he had just 
come out from the Most Holy Place, between the altar and 
the table of shewbread, "on the right side of the altar." 
So far as we know, this was the first and only angelic 
appearance in the Temple. For we cannot attach serious 
importance to the tradition that, during the forty years 

our A. V. See Bahr's Symbol,^ vbl. i,, and Keil's Arch,^ vol. i. (Ml tiiis and 
kindred subjects. 

* Fsa. cxli. 2. 2 Luke i.f9. 

' It has, however, been suggested that the correct reading of Luke i. 39, is not 
•a city of Judah," but '' the city of Juttah." Compare Joshua xxi. 16. 

K 



130 The Temple^ its Ministry and Serznces. 

of his pontificate, an angel always accompanied Simeon the 
Just, when on the Day of Atonement he entered and left 
the Most Holy Place, except the last year, when the 
angel left him in the Sanctuary, to show that this was to be 
the end of his ministry. What passed between Gabriel and 
Zacharias is beside our present purpose. Suffice it to notice 
several details incidentally mentioned in this narrative, such 
as that a special lot was cast for this ministry ; that the priest 
was alone in the Holy Place while burning the incense ; and 
that " the whole multitude of the people were praying without 
at the time of incense." 

The lot for burning the incense was, as we have seen, 
the third by which the order of the ministry for the day was 
determined. The first lot, which in reality had been cast 
before the actual break of day, was that to designate the 
various priests who were to cleanse the altar and to prepare its 
fires. Th^ first of the priests on whom this lot had fallen imme- 
diately went out. His brethren reminded him where the silver 
chafing-dish was deposited, and not to touch any sacred vessel 
till he had washed his hands and feet. He took no light with 
him ; the fire of the altar was sufficient for his office. Hands 
and feet were washed by laying the right hand on the right 
foot, and the left hand on the left.^ The sound of the 
machinery, as it filled the laver with water, admonished the 
others to be in readiness. This machinery had been made by 
Ben Catiny who also altered the laver so that twelve priests 
could at the same time perform their ablutions. Otherwise 
the laver resembled that in the Temple of Solomon. It was 
of brass. All the vessels in the Sanctuary were of metal, 

^ Perhaps this might therefore be appropriately described as washing *' the fe-et 
only," John xiii. 10. 



T^e Morning and the Evening Sacrifice. 131 

the only exception being the altar of burnt offering, 
which was solid, and wholly of stones taken from virgin soil, 
that had not been defiled by any tool of iron. The stones 
were fastened together by mortar, pitch, and molten lead. The 
measurement of the altar is differently given by Josephus and 
the Rabbis. It seems to have consisted of three sections, 
each narrower than the former : the base being thirty-two 
cubits wide, the middle twenty-eight, and the top, where the 
fire was laid (of course, not including the horns of the altar 
nor the space where the priests moved), only twenty-four 
cubits. With the exception of some parts of the altar, in 
which the cubit was calculated at five hand-breadths, the 
sacred cubit of the Temple was always reckoned at six hand- 
breadths. Lastly, as readers of the New Testament know,^ 
whatever touched the altar, or, indeed, any sacred vessel, was 
regarded as " sanctified,"^ but no vessel could be dedicated to 
the use of the Temple which had not been originally destined 
for it.2 

But to return. While the assistant priests were waiting, 
the first priest had taken the silver chafing-dish, and scraped 
the fire on the altar, removing the burnt coals, and depositing 
them at a little distance north of the altar. As he descended, 
the other priests quickly washed hands and feet, and took 
shovels and prongs, with which they moved aside what of the 
sacrifices had been left unburned from the previous evening, 
then cleaned out the ashes, laying part on the great heap in 
the middle of the altar, and the rest in a place whence it was 

^ Matt, xxiii. 19. 

^ It is impossible in this place to enter into full details either about the laver, 
the altar of burnt-offering, or indeed any of the vessels of the ministry. These 
and similar topics belong to Biblical archaeology. 



132 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

afterwards carried out of the Temple. The next duty was to 
lay on the altar fresh wood, which, however, might be neither 
from the olive nor the vine. For the fire destined to feed the 
altar of incense the wood of the fig-tree was exclusively used, 
so as to secure good and sufficient charcoal. The hitherto 
unconsumed pieces of the sacrifice were now again laid upon 
the fire. 

These preliminaries finished, the priests gathered once more 
for the second lot. The priest on whom it fell was designated, 
along with the twelve who stood nearest to him, for offering the 
sacrifice and cleansing the candlestick and the altar of incense. 
Immediately after casting this second lot, the president directed 
one to ascend some " pinnacle," and see whether it was time 
to kill the daily sacrifice. If the priest reported, " The morn- 
ing shineth already," he was again asked, " Is the sky lit up as 
far as Hebron } " If so, the president ordered the lamb to 
be brought from the chamber by the Beth-Moked, where it 
had been kept in readiness for four days. Others fetched 
the gold and silver vessels of service, of which the Rabbis 
enumerate ninety-three. The sacrificial lamb was now watered 
out of a golden bowl, and anew examined by torch-light, 
though its Levitical fitness had been already ascertained the 
evening before. Then the sacrificing priest, surrounded by 
his assistants, fastened the lamb to the second of the rings on 
the north side of the altar — in the morning in the western, in 
the evening in the eastern corner.^ The sacrifice was held 
together^ by its feet, the fore and hind feet of each side 
being tied together ; its head was laid towards the south and 

^ The sacrifice was always offered against the sun. 

^ This was a point in dispute between the orthodox and the heterodox. See 
Maimonides^ Yad ha Chaz,, Tr. On the Daily Sacr,, chap. i. 9. 



The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice. 133 

fastened through a ring, and its face turned to the west, while 
the sacrificing priest stood on the east side. The elders who 
carried the keys now gave the order for opening the Temple 
gates. As the last great gate slowly moved on its hinges, the 
priests, on a signal given, blew three blasts on their silver 
trumpets, summoning the Levites and the " representatives " 
of the people (the so-called " stationary men ") to their duties, 
and announcing to the city that the morning sacrifice was 
about to be offered. Immediately upon this the great gates 
which led into the Holy Place itself were opened to admit 
the priests who were to cleanse the candlestick and the altar 
of incense. The opening of these gates was the signal for 
actually slaying the sacrificial lamb. The sacrifice was 
offered in the following manner. One priest drew forward 
the windpipe and gullet of the sacrifice, and quickly thrust 
upwards the knife, while another caught the blood in a 
golden bowl. Standing at the east side of the altar, he 
sprinkled it, first at the north-east, and then at the south- 
west corner, below the red line which ran round the middle 
of the altar, in each case in such manner as to cover two 
sides of the altar, or, as it is described, in the form of the 
Greek letter F (gamma). The rest of the blood was poured 
out at the base of the altar. Ordinarily, the whole of this 
service would of course be performed by priests. But it 
was valid even if the sacrifice had been killed by a layman, 
or with an ordinary knife. Not so if the blood were caught 
up in any but a consecrated vessel, or sprinkled by other 
than the hands of a priest who at the time was Levitically 
fit for the service. 

We proceed to describe the service of those whose duty 
it was to cleanse the altar of incense and to dress the golden 



134 'The Te}itple, its Ministry and Services. 

candlestick in the Holy Place. A few particulars as to each 
of these will not be out of place. The triumphal arch of 
Titus in Rome bears a representation of the golden mortars 
in which the incense was bruised, and of the golden candle- 
stick, but not of the altar of incense. Still, we can form 
a sufficiently accurate idea of its appearance.^ It was square, 
one cubit long and broad, and two cubits high, that is, half 
a cubit higher than the table of shewbread, but one cubit 
lower than the candlestick, and it had " horns " at each of its 
four corners. It was probably hollow, and its top covered with 
a golden plate, and like an Eastern roof, surrounded by what 
resembled a balustrade, to prevent the coals and incense from 
falling off. Below this balustrade was a massive crown of 
gold. The incense burned upon this altar was prepared of 
the four ingredients mentioned in Ex. xxx. 34, with which, 
according to the Rabbis, seven others were mixed, besides a 
small quantity of " Ambra," and of a herb which gave out a 
dense smoke. To these thirteen substances^ salt was of 
course added. The mode of preparing the incense had 
been preserved in the family of Abtinas, The greatest 
care was taken to have the incense thoroughly bruised and 
mixed. Altogether 368 pounds were made for the year's 
consumption, about half a pound being used every morning 
and evening in the service. The censer for the Day of 
Atonement was different in size and appearance from that 
for ordinary days.^ The golden candlestick was like that 

* See the notices in the Mishnah, and Maimonides, and the articles in the 
Encycl. specially those of Herzog and Winer. 

2 Jos. Jewish War, v. 5, s. 

^ Here also all details are beyond our present province. But it may be remarked 
that the expression in Heb. ix. 4, rendered in our Authorised Version *Svhich had 
the golden censer," implies no more than that the censer belonged to the *' Holiest 



The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice. 135 

delineated in Ex. xxv. 31, etc, and is sufficiently known from 
its representation on the Arch of Titus. 

Now, while one set of priests were busy in the Court of the 
Priests offering the sacrifice, the two on whom it devolved 
to trim the lamps of the candlestick and to prepare the altar 
of incense had gone into the Holy Place. As nearly as . 
possible while the lamb was being slain without, the first \ 
of these priests took with his hands the burnt coals and ashes 
from the golden altar, and put them into a golden vessel — • 
called "teni'* — and withdrew, leaving it in the sanctuary. 
Similarly, as the blood of the lamb was being sprinkled on 
the altar of burnt-offering, the second priest ascended the 
three steps, hewn in stone, which led up to the candlestick. 
He trimmed and refilled the lamps that were still burning, 
removed the wick and old oil from those which had become 
extinguished, supplied fresh, and re-lit them from one of the 
other lamps. But the large central lamp, towards which all 
the others bent, and which was called the western, because 
it inclined westward towards the Most Holy Place, might 
only be re-lit by fire from the altar itself. Only five, how- 
ever, of the lamps were then trimmed ; the other two were 
reserved to a later period of the service. 

Meantime in the Court of the Priests the sacrifice had 
been hung on one of the hooks, flayed, cut up according to 
rules,^ cleaned, and handed to the six priests who were suc- 
cessively to carry up the pieces to the rise of the altar, where 
they were salted and deposited. For " every sacrifice must 



of all ("having the golden censer *'), not that the censer ordinarily stood in the 
Most Holy Place. 

^ These rules are so detailed that the priests, on any of whom the lot might at 
any time fall for this service, must have undergone very careful previous training. 



136 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

be salted with salt" — nay, everything that was laid on the 
altar, except the drink-offering.^ At the same time, three 
other priests carried up to the rise of the altar the daily meat- 
offering, that of the high-priest, and the drink-offering. The 
skins of the sacrifices were salted, and on the eve of each 
Sabbath distributed among the *' course " of priests that had 
been on ministry.^ 

And now the most solemn part of the service was about 
to begin. For the third time the priests assembled in the 
" Hall of Polished Stones," to draw the third and the fourth 
lots. But before doing so the president called on them to 
join in the prescribed prayers. Tradition has preserved these 
to us. Subjecting them to the severest criticism,^ so as to 
eliminate all later details, the words used by the priests 
before the third and fourth lots were as follows : 

" With great love hast Thou loved us, O Lord our God, 
and with much overflowing pity hast Thou pitied us. Our 

Father and our King, for the sake of our fathers who trusted 

in Thee, and Thou taughtest them the statutes of life, have 
mercy upon us, and enlighten our eyes* [in Thy law ; cause 
our hearts to cleave to Thy commandments ; unite our hearts 
to love and to fear Thy name, and we shall not be put to 
shame, world without end. For Thou art a God who pre- 
parest salvation, and us hast Thou chosen from among all 
nations and tongues, and hast, in truth, brought us near to 

1 To this the Rabbis add somewhat needlessly : the blood of sprinkling and the 
wood for the fire ! 

2 This in the case of burnt-, sin-, and trespass- offerings. The skins of the other 
offerings belonged to the offerers themselves. 

^ Compare the very full discussion of the subject in Zunz, Gottesd, Vortr^ pp. 
369 and following. Still, the matter is not quite clear of critical difficulties. 

* The words here and afterwards within square brackets are regarded by Jost 
{fiesth, d» jfud.) as a later addition. 



The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice. 137 * 

thy great name, Selah, in order] that we in love may praise 
Thee and Thy Unity. Blessed be the Lord, who in love 
chose His people Israel." 

After this prayer the ten commandments were (at one 
time) wont to be repeated, a practice discontinued, however, 
lest the Sadducees should declare them to be the only 
essential part of the law. Then all assembled said the 
so-called "Shema"^ (Hear, O Israel, etc., Deut. vi. 4, etc.), 
which may be designated as a sort of " credo " or *' belief." It 
consisted of these three passages — Deut. vi. 4-9 ; xi. 13-21 ; 
and Numb. xv. 37-41. 

After this the lot was cast for burning the incense. 
No one might take part in it who had ministered in that 
office before, unless in the very rare case that all present 
had previously so officiated. Hence, while the other three 
lots held good for the evening service, that for the incense 
required to be repeated. He on whom this lot fell chose 
from among his friends his two assistants. Finally, the third 
was succeeded by the fourth lot, which designated those who 
were to lay on the altar the sacrifice and the meat-offerings, 
and to pour out the drink-offering. 

The incensing priest and his assistants now approached 
first the altar of burnt-offering. One filled with incense a 
golden censer held in a silver vessel, while another placed 
in a golden bowl burning "coals from the altar. As they 
passed from the court into the Holy Place, they struck a 
large instrument (called the " Magrephah "), at sound of 
which the priests hastened from all parts to worship, and 

^ So named from the first word, Shema, " Hear," viz., **0 Israel," etc. By 
one of the strangest mistakes, Lightfoot confounds the contents of the '' Shema" 
with those of the phylacteries. 



13S The Temple, its Ministry and Services, 

the Levites to occupy their places in the service of song; 
while the chief of the " stationary men " ranged at the Gate 
of Nicanor such of the people as were to be puriified that 
day.^ Slowly the incensing priest and his assistants ascended 
the steps to the Holy Place, preceded by the two priests who 
had formerly dressed the altar and the candlestick, and who 
now removed the vessels they had left behind, and, wor- 
shipping, withdrew. Next, one of the assistants reverently 
spread the coals on the golden altar ; the other arranged 
the incense ; and then the chief officiating priest was left 
alone within the Holy Place, to await the signal of the 
president before burning the incense. It was probably while 
thus expectant that the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias. 
As the president gave the word of command, which marked 
that " the time of incense had come," " the whole multitude 
of the people without " withdrew from the inner court, and 
fell down before the Lord, spreading their hands^ in silent 
y prayer. It is this most solemn period, when throughout the 
vast Temple buildings deep silence rested on the worshipping 
multitude, while within the sanctuary itself the priest laid 
the incense on the golden altar, and the cloud of "odours"^ 
rose up before the Lord, which serves as the image of hea- 
venly things in this description :^ " And when He had opened 
the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space 

* The description of the daily sacrifice is given at length in the Mishnic tractate 
Tamid, See specially sect v. 

2 The practice of folding the hands together in prayer dates from the fifth 
century of our era, and is of purely Saxon origin. See Holemann Bibel St.^ 
i, p. 150, quoted by Delitzsch, u, s. 

3 Rev. V. 8. It is a curious inconsistency on the part of Maimonides, to assign 
this rationalistic object for the use of incense in the Temple — that it counteracted 
the effluvia from the sacrifices I 

* Rev. viii. i, 3, 4. According to Tamid vi. 3, the incensing priest "bowed 
down, " or prayed, on withdrawing backwards from the Holy Place. 



The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice, 139 

of half an hour. . . . And another angel came and stood at 
the altar, having a golden censer ; and there was given unto 
him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers 
of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the 
throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with 
the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out ot 
the angel's hand." The prayers offered by priests and people 
at this part of the service are recorded by tradition as fol- 
lows '} "True it is that Thou art Jehovah our God, and the 
God of our fathers ; our King and the King of our fathers ; 
our Saviour and the Saviour of our fathers ; our Maker and 
the Rock of our salvation ; our Help and our Deliverer. 
Thy name is from everlasting, and there is no God beside 
Thee. A new song did they that were delivered sing to 
Thy name by the sea-shore ; together did all praise and 
own Thee as King, and say, Jehovah shall reign who saveth 
Israel.^ 

" Be graciously pleased, Jehovah our God, with Thy people 

1 A few details for those who wish fuller information. Tradition has preserved 
two kinds of fragments from the ancient Jewish liturgy in the times of the Temple. 
The one is called the ** Tephillah," or Prayer, the other the " Eulogies " or Benedic- \ j 
tions. Of the latter there are eighteen, of which the three first and the three last IV 
are the oldest, though four, five, six, eight, and nine are also of considerable 
antiquity. Of the ancient Tephilloth four have been preserved — two used before 
and two (in the morning, one) after the Shema. The first morning and the last 
evening Tephillah are strictly morning and evening prayers. They were not used 
in the Temple service. The second Tephillah before the Shema was said by the 
priests in the ** Hall of Polished Stones,*' and the first Tephillah after the Shema by 
priests and people during the burning of incense. This was followed by the three 
last of the eighteen Eulogies. Is it not a fair inference, then, that while the priests 
said their prayers in *'the hall," the people repeated the three first Eulogies, which 
are of equal antiquity with the three last, which we know to have been repeated 
during the burning of incense ? 

* Now follow in the text the three last '* Eulogies." 



140 The Temple^ its Ministry and S^ervices. 

Israel, and with their prayer. Restore the service to the 
oracle of Thy house ; and the burnt-offerings of Israel and 
their prayer accept graciously and in love ; and let the service 
of thy people Israel be ever well-pleasing unto Thee. 

''We praise Thee, who art Jehovah our God, and the God 
of our fathers, the God of all flesh, our Creator, and the 
Creator from the beginning ! Blessing and praise be to Thy 
great and holy name, that Thou hast preserved us in life and 
kept us. So preserve us and keep us, and gather the scat- 
tered ones into Thy holy courts, to keep Thy statutes, and to 
do Thy good pleasure, and to serve Thee with our whole 
heart, as this day we confess unto Thee. Blessed be the 
Lord, unto whom belongeth praise. 

''Appoint peace, goodness, and blessing ; grace, mercy, 
and compassion for us, and for all Israel Thy people. Bless 
us, O our Father, all of us as one, with the light of Thy 
countenance. For in the light of Thy countenance hast 
Thou, Jehovah, our God, given us the law of life, and loving 
mercy, and righteousness, and blessing, and compassion, and 
life, and peace. And may it please Thee to bless Thy people 
Israel at all times, and at every hour with Thy peace. [May 
we and all thy people Israel be remembered and written 
before Thee in the book of life, with blessing and peace and 
support] Blessed be Thou, Jehovah, who blessest Thy people 
Israel with peace." 

These prayers ended, he who had formerly trimmed the 
candlestick once more entered the Holy Place, to kindle the 
two lamps that had been left unlit ; and then, in company 
with the incensing priest, took his stand on the top of the 
steps which led down to the Court of the Priests.^ The 

^ According to Maimonides, it was at this part of the service, and not before, 



The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice. 141 

other three who had also ministered within the Holy Place 
gathered beside him, still carrying the vessels of their 
ministry ; while the rest of the priests grouped themselves on 
the steps beneath. Meanwhile he on whom the fourth lot 
had fallen had ascended to the altar. They whose duty it 
was handed to him, one by one, the pieces of the sacrifice. 
Upon each he pressed his hands, and next flung them con- 
fusedly upon the fire, that so the flesh of the sacrifice might 
be scattered as well as its blood sprinkled. After that he 
ranged them in order, to imitate as nearly as possible the 
natural shape of the animal. This part of the service was 
not unfrequently performed by the high-priest himself. 

The priests, who were ranged on the steps to the Holy Place, 
now lifted their hands above their heads, spreading and join- 
ing their fingers in a peculiar mystical manner.* One of their 
number, probably the incensing priest, repeated in audible 
voice, followed by the others, the blessing in Numb. vi. 
24-26: ''Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee: Jehovah make 
His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee : 
Jehovah lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee 
peace." To this the people responded, " Blessed be the Lord 
God, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting." In 
the modern synagogues the priestly blessing is divided into 



that the sound of the Magrephah summoned the priests to worship, the Levites to 
their song, and the "stationary men" to their duties. 

1 The high-priest lifted his hands no higher than the golden plate on his mitre. 
It is well known that, in pronouncing the priestly blessing in the synagogue, the 
priests join their two outspread hands, by making the tips of the first fingers touch 
each other. At the same time, the first and second, and the third and fourth 
fingers in each hand are knit together, while a division is made between those 
fingers by spreading them apart. A rude representation of this may be s^een in 
Jewish cemeteries on the gravestones of priests. 



142 The Temple, its Ministiy a7td Services. 

three parts; it is pronounced with a disguised voice and 
veiled faces, while the word " Lord " is substituted for the 
name of '^ Jehovah." ^ Of course all this was not the case in 
the Temple. But if it had been the duty of Zacharias, as 
incensing priest for the day, to lead in the priestly blessing, 
we can all the better understand the wonder of the people as 
"he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless,"^ while 
they waited for his benediction. 

After the priestly blessing the meat-offering was brought, 
and, as prescribed in the law, oil added to it. Having been 
salted, it was laid on the fire. Next the high-priest's daily 
meat-offering was presented, consisting of twelve cakes broken 
in halves — twelve half-cakes being presented in the morning, 
and the other twelve in the evening. Finally, the appro- 
priate drink-offering was poured out upon the foundation of 
the altar.' 

Upon this the Temple music began. It was the duty 
of the priests, who stood on the right and the left of the 
marble table on which the fat of the sacrifices was laid, at 
the proper time to blow the blasts on their silver trumpets. 
There might not be less than two nor more than 120 in this 
service ; the former in accordance with the original institu- 
tion,* the latter not to exceed the number at the dedication 
of the first Temple.^ *rhe priests faced the people, looking 
eastwards, while the Levites, who crowded the fifteen steps 
which led from the Court of Israel to that of the Priests, 

* Dr. Geiger has an interesting argument to show that in olden times the pro- 
nunciation of the so-called ineffable name ** Jehovah," which now is never spoken, 
was allowed even in ordinary life. See Urschrift u, Uebers d, Bibel, p. 259, etc. 

2 Luke 1. 22. 

3 Perhaps there may be an allusion to this in Rev. vi. 9, 10. 
^ * Numb. X. 2. * 2 Chron. v. 12. 



The Moi^ning and the Evening Sacrifice. 143 

turned westwards to the sanctuary. On a signal given by 
the president, the priests moved forward to each side of 
him who struck the cymbals. Immediately the choir of the 
Levites, accompanied by instrumental music, began the Psalm 
of the day. It was sustained by not less than twelve voices, 
with which mingled the delicious treble from selected voices 
of young sons of the Levites, who, standing by their fathers, 
might take part in this service alone. The number of instru- 
mental performers was not limited, nor yet confined to the 
Levites, some of the distinguished families which had inter- 
married with the priests being admitted to this service.'^ The 
Psalm of the day was always sung in three sections. At the 
close of each the priests drew three blasts from their silver 
trumpets, and the people bowed down and worshipped. This 
closed the morning service. It was immediately followed by 
the sacrifices and offerings which private Israelites might have 
to bring, and which would occasionally continue till near the 
time for the evening sacrifice. The latter resembled in all 
respects that of the morning, except that the lot was only 
cast for the incense ; that the incense was burned, not, as in 
the morning, before, but after the pieces of the sacrifice had 
been laid on the fire of the altar, and that the priestly blessing 
was generally omitted. 

The following was the order of the Psalms in the daily 
service of the Temple.^ On the first day of the week they 
sang Psalm xxiv., '*The earth is the Lord's," etc., in com- 
memoration of the first day of creation, when " God possessed 

^ It is a curious coincidence that of the two families named in the Talmud as 
admitted to this service, one — that of Tsippariah — should have been **from 
Emmaus" (Luke xxiv. 13). 

* Tamidf sect, vii., and Maimonides in Tamid, 



144 '^^^ Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

the worlds and ruled in it*' On the second day they sang 
Psalm xlviJi., " Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised/' 
etc., because on the second day of creation " the Lord divided 
his works, and reigned over them." On the third day they 
sang Psalm Ixxxii., *' God standeth in the congregation of the 
mighty," etc., ''because on that day the earth appeared, on 
which aie the Judge and the judged." On the fourth day 
Psalm xciv. was sung, ''O Lord God, to whom vengeance 
belongeth," etc., '' because on the fourth day God made the 
sun, moon, and stars, and will be avenged on those that 
worship them." On the fifth, day they sang Psalm Ixxxi., 
*' Sing aloud unto God our strength," etc., *' because of the 
variety of creatures made that day to praise His name." On 
the sixth day Psalm xciii. was sung, ''The Lord reigneth," 
etc., " because on that day God finished His works and made 
man, and the Lord ruled over all His works." Lastly, on the 
Sabbath day they sang Psalm xcii., " It is a good thing to 
give thanks unto the Lord," etc., " because the Sabbath was 
symbolical of the millennial kingdom at the end of the six 
thousand years' dispensation, when the Lord would reign 
over all, and His glory and service fill the earth with thanks- 
giving." 



CHAPTER IX. 

SABBATH IN THE TEMPLE. 

•• The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath : therefore the 
Sgn of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." — Mark ii. 27, 28. 

IT IS a beautifully significant practice of the modern Jews, 
that, before fulfilling any special observance directed in 
their Law, they always first bless God for the giving of it. One 
might almost compare the idea underlying this, and much 
else of a similar character in the present religious life of Israel, 
to the good fruits which the soil of Palestine bore even during 
the Sabbatical years, when it lay untilled. For it is intended 
to express that the Law is felt not a burden, but a gift of 
God in which to rejoice. And this holds specially true of the 
Sabbath in its Divine institution, of which it was distinctly 
said, ** I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me 
and them, that they might know that I, Jehovah, sanctify 
them."^ In the same sense, the Sabbath is called "a delight, 
the holy of Jehovah, honourable;"^ and the great burden of 
the Sabbath-Psalm^ is that of joyous thanksgiving unto God. 

* Ezek. XX. 12. ^ Isa. Iviii. 13. 

* Psa. xcii. The Talmud discusses the question whether Psa. xcii. bears refer- 
ence to the Sabbath of creation, or to that final Messianic Sabbath of the Kingdom — 
according to Rabbi Akibah, " the day which is wholly a Sabbath." (See Delitzscb 

L 



146 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

The term Sabbath, "resting," points to the origin and 
meaning of the weekly festival. The Rabbis hold that it 
was not intended for the Gentiles, and most of them trace 
the obligation of its observance only to the legislation on 
Mount Sinai. Nor is another Rabbinical saying, that *' cir- 
cumcision and the Sabbath preceded the law," inconsistent 
with this. For even if the duty of Sabbath-observance 
had only commenced with the promulgation of the law 
on Mount Sinai, yet the Sabbath-law itself rested on the 
original "hallowing" of the seventh day, when God rested 
from all His works. ^ But this was not the only rest 
to which the Sabbath pointed. There was also a rest of 
redemption, and the Sabbath was expressly connected with 
the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. " Remember that 
thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah 
thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand 
and by a stretched out arm : therefore Jehovah thy God 
commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day."^ At the close 
of the work-a-day week, holy rest in the Lord ; at the end 
of the labour and sorrow of Egypt, redemption and rest ; 
and both pointing forward to the better rest,^ and ultimately 
to the eternal Sabbath of completed work, of completed 
redemption, and completed "hallowing"* — such was the 
meaning of the weekly Sabbath. It was because this idea. 
of festive rest and sanctification was so closely connected 
with the weekly festival that the term Sabbath was also 

on the Psalm. ) It is a curiously uncritical remark of some Rabbis to ascribe the 
authorship of this Psalm to Adam, and its composition to the beginning of the first 
Sabbath — Adam having fallen just before its commencement, and been driven from 
Paradise, but not killed, because God would not execute the punishment of death 
on the Sabbath. 

1 Gen. ii. 3. « Deut. v. 15. * Heb. iv. 9. * Rev. xl 



Sabbath in the Temple. 147 

applied to the great festivals.^ For a similar reason, the 
number seven, which was that of the weekly Sabbath (the 
first seven that had appeared in time), became in Scripture- 
symbolism the sacred or covenant-number. ^ 

It is necessary to bear all this in remembrance when 
thinking of what the perverted ingenuity of the Rabbis 
made the Sabbath at the time of Christ, and probably 
even more in the generations following. For there is evi- 
dence that the Sabbath-law has become stricter than it 
had been, since, for instance, the practice of taking an ox 
or an ass out of a pit, to which our Saviour alludes^ as 
uncontroverted, would now no longer be lawful, unless, 
indeed, the animal were in actual danger of life ; other- 
wise, it is to receive food and water in the pit. This 
** actual danger to life,*' whether to beast or to man (at any 
rate, to Israelites), determined the only cases in which a 
breach of the law of Sabbath -observance was allowed. At 
the outset, indeed, it must be admitted that the whole social 
Rabbinical legislation on the subject seems to rest on two 
sound underlying principles : negatively, the avoidance of all 
that might become work ; and, positively, the doing of all 
which, in the opinion of the Rabbis, might tend to make the 
Sabbath "a delight." Hence, not only were fasting and 
mourning strictly prohibited, but food, dress, and every 
manner of enjoyment, not incompatible with abstinence from 

* As Lev. xxiiL 15, 24, 32, 39. 

* The term " Sabbath" is also applied to ** a week," as m Lev. xxiii. 15 ; xxv. 8 ; 
and, for example, in Matt, xxviii. I ; Mark xvi. 2 ; Luke xxiv. I ; John xx. I. 
This seems to indicate that the Sabbath was not to be regarded as separate from, 
but as giving its character to the rest of the week, and to its secular engage- 
ments. So to speak, the week closes and is completed in the Sabbath. 

' Luke xiv. 5. 



148 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

work, were prescribed to render the day pleasurable. " All the 
days of the week," the Rabbis say, " has God paired, except the 
Sabbath, which is alone, that it may be wedded to Israel." 
Israel was to welcome the Sabbath as a bride ; its advent as 
that of a king. But in practice all this terribly degenerated. 
Readers of the New Testament know how entirely, and even 
cruelly, the spirit and object of the Sabbath were perverted 
by the traditions of " the elders." But those only who have 
studied the Jewish law on the subject can form any adequate 
conception of the state of matters. Not to speak of the folly 
of attempting to produce joy by prescribed means, nor of the 
incongruousness of those means, considering the sacred cha- 
racter of the day, the almost numberless directions about 
avoiding work must have made a due observance of the Sab- 
bath-rest the greatest labour of all. All work was arranged 
under thirty-nine chief classes, or *' fathers," each of them 
having ever so many " descendants," or subordinate divisions. 
Thus, *' reaping " was one of the " fathers," or chief classes, 
and ** plucking ears of corn " one of its descendants. So far 
did this punctiliousness go that it became necessary to devise 
ingenious means to render the ordinary intercourse of life 
possible, and to evade the inconvenient strictness of the law 
which regulated a " Sabbath-day's journey." ^ 

The school of Shammai, the sect of the Essenes, and strange 
to say, the Samaritans, were the most stringent in their 

* By depositing a meal of meat at the end of a Sabbath-day's journey to make 
it, by a legal fiction, a man's domicile, from which he might start on a fresh 
Sabbath-day's jom'ney. The Mishnic tractate Eruvin treats of the connecting 
of houses, courts, etc., to render lawful the carrying out of food, etc. On the 
other hand, such an isolated expression occurs {Mechilta^ ed. Weiss^ p. 1\Q a) : 
"The Sabbath is given to you, not you to the Sabbath." If we might regard this 
as a current theological saying, it would give a fresh meaning to the words of 
cur Lord, Mark ii. 27, 



Sabbath in the Temple. 149 

Sabbath-observance. The school of Shammai held that the 
duty of Sabbath-rest extended not only to men and to beasts, 
but even to inanimate objects, so that no process might be 
commenced on the Friday which would go on of itself during 
the Sabbath, such as laying out flax to dry, or putting wool 
into dye.^ The school of Hillel excluded inanimate things 
from the Sabbath-rest, and also allowed work to be given on 
a Friday to Gentiles, irrespective of the question whether they 
could complete it before the Sabbath began. Both schools 
allowed the preparation of the passover-meal on the Sabbath, 
and also priests, while on their ministry in the Temple, to 
keep up the fire in the '' Beth Moked." But this puncti- 
lious enforcement of the Sabbath-rest became occasionally 
dangerous to the nation. For at one time the Jew^s would 
not even defend themselves on the Sabbath against hostile 
attacks of armies, till the Maccabees laid down the principle, 
which ever afterwards continued in force,^ that defensive, 
though not offensive, warfare was lawful on the holy day. 
Even as thus modified, the principle involved peril, and 
during the last siege of Jerusalem it was not uniformly carried 
out.'^ Nor w^as it, so far as we can judge from analogy,^ 
sanctioned by Scripture precedent. But this is not the place 
further to explain either the Scripture or the Rabbinical law 
of Sabbath-observance,^ as it affected the individual, the 
home, and the social life, nor yet to describe the Sabbath- 
w^orship in the ancient synagogues of Palestine. We confine 
our attention to what passed in the Temple itself. 

^ Shabb, i. 5, 6, etc. * Jos. Ant, xii. 6, 2 ; xiv. 4, 2. 

^ Compare Jewish Wars^ ii. 19, 2, but, on the other hand, Antiq, xiv. 4, 2* 

* Josh, vi.^15, etc. 

• There is a special Mishnic tractate on the subject. 



150 The Temple, its Ministry and Services, 

The only directions given in Scripture for the celebration of 
the Sabbath in the sanctuary are those which enjoin ** a holy 
convocation," or a sacred assembly ;^ the weekly renewal of 
the shewbread;^ and an additional burnt offering of two 
lambs, with the appropriate meat and drink offerings, " beside 
the continual " (that is, the ordinary daily) " burnt offering 
and his drink offering/'^ But the ancient records of tradition 
enable us to form a very vivid conception of Sabbath-worship 
in the Temple at the time of Christ. Formally, the Sabbath 
commenced at sunset on Friday, the day being reckoned by 
the Hebrews from sunset to sunset. As no special hour for 
this was fixed, it must, of course, have varied not only at 
different seasons, but in different localities. Thus, the Rabbis 
mention that the inhabitants of a low-lying city, like Tiberias, 
comrr.enced the observance of the Sabbath half an hour earlier, 
while those who lived on an eminence, such as at Sepphoris,^ 
Continued it half an hour later than their brethren. . If the 
sun were not visible, sunset was to be reckoned from when the 
fowls went to roost. But long before that the preparations 
for the Sabbath had commenced. Accordingly, Friday is 
called by the Rabbis " the eve of the Sabbath," and in the 
Gospels *' the preparation." ^ No fresh business was then under- 
taken ; no journey of any distance commenced ; but every- 
thing purchased and made ready against the feast, the victuals 

^ Lev. xxiii. 3. 2 Lev. xxiv. 8 ; Numb. iv. 7. ^ Numb, xxviii. 9, 10. 

^ Sepphoris, the Dio-Caesarea of the Romans, was near Nazareth. It is often 
referred to by Josephus, and, after the destruction of Jerusalem, became for a time 
the seat of the Sanhedrim. (See Robinson's Researches in Pal. voJ. ii. p. 345.) 

^ Mark xv. 42 ; John xix, 31. The expression, Luke vi. I, rendered in our 
version "the second Sabbath after the first," really means, **the first Sabbath after 
the second " day of the Passover, on which the first ripe sheaf was presen ed, the 
Jews calculating the weeks from that day to Pentecost, 



Sabbath in the Temple. 151 

being placed in a heated oven, and surrounded by dry sub- 
stances to keep them warm.^ Early on Friday afternoon, the 
new '' course '' of priests, of Levites, and of the " stationary 
men," who were to be the, representatives of all Israel, arrived 
in Jerusalem, and having prepared themselves for the festive 
season, went up to the Temple. The approach of the Sab- 
bath, and then its actual commencement, were announced by 
threefold blasts from the priests' trumpets.^ The first three 
blasts were drawn when " one-third of the evening sacrifice ser- 
vice was over ;" or, as we gather from the decree by which the 
Emperor Augustus set the Jews free from attendance in courts 
of law,^ about the ninth hour, that is, about three P.M. on 
Friday. This, as we remember, was the hour when Jesus gave up 
the ghost.^ When the priests for the first time sounded their 
trumpets, all business was to cease, and every kind of work to 
be stopped. Next, the Sabbath-lamp, of which even heathen 
writers knew,^ was lit, and the festive garments put on. A 
second time the priests drew a threefold blast to indicate that 
the Sabbath had actually begun. But the service of the new 
*' course " of priests had commenced before that. After the 
Friday evening sacrifice, the altar of burnt ofi*ering was cleansed 
from its stains of blood.^ Then the outgoing '* course " 
handed over to the incoming the keys of the sanctuary, the 

* See the disquisition m Mishnah, Shab, iv., as to what substances are lawful for 
the purpose, and what not. 

* Perhaps from the so-called ** tectum Sabbathi," or ** Sabbath roof," which 
Rhenferdius {Op, Phil., p. 770) identifies with the ** Sabbath covert,'' 2 Kings 
xvi. 18. See Goodwin, Moses et Aaron (ed. Hottinger), pp. 518, 519. 

3 Jos. Ant xvi. 6, 2. * Matt, xxvii. 45 ; Mark xv. 34 ; Luke xxiii. 44. 

^ Seneca, ep. 95. 

^ The altar was whitened twice a year, before the Passover- and the Feast of 
Tabernacles. But no tool of iron was used in this. 



152 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

holy vessels, and all else of which they had had charge. 
Next the heads of the " houses " or families of the incoming 
"course" determined by lot which of the families were to 
serve on each special day of their week of ministry, and also 
who were to discharge the various priestly functions on the 
Sabbath. 

The first of these functions, immediately on the com- 
mencement of the Sabbath, was the renewal of the ** shew- 
bread." It had been prepared by the incoming course before 
the Sabbath itself, and — we might almost say, invariably — 
in one of the chambers of the Temple, though, in theory, 
it was held lawful to prepare it also at Bethphage.^ For, 
although it was a principle that '* there is no Sabbath in the 
sanctuary," yet no work was allowed which might have been 
done on any other day. Even circumcision, which, like the 
Temple services, according to the Rabbis, superseded the 
Sabbath, was deferred by some to the close of the festive 
day.^ Hence, also, if Friday, on the afternoon of which the 
shewbread was ordinarily prepared, fell on a feast day that 
required Sabbatical rest, the shewbread was prepared on the 
Thursday afternoon.^ The Rabbis are at pains to explain the 
particular care with which it was made and baked, so that 
in appearance and colour the lower should be exactly the 
same as the upper part of it. 

But this subject is too important to be thus briefly 
treated.'* Our term " shewbread " is a translation of that 
used by Luther (Schaubrod), which, in turn, may have 

* Mish, Men, xi. 2. • See Oehler in Herzog's Real-Encycl. xiii. p. 202. 
' This must have been the case on the Thursday of Christ's betrayal. 

* The articles in Kitto's Cyd, and in Smith's Did. are meagre and unsatisfactory. 
Even Winer [fieal-Worterb, ii. p. 401, etc.) is not so accurate as usual. 



Sabbath in the Temple. 153 

been taken from the Vulgate {panes prcepositionis). The 
Scriptural name is ** Bread of the Face;"' that is, "of the 
presence of God," just as the similar expression, "Angel 
of the Face"^ means the "Angel of His Presence."^ From 
its constant presence and disposition in the sanctuary, it is 
also called "perpetual bread "^ and "bread of laying out" 
(set in order), which latter most nearly corresponds to the 
term used in the New Testament.^ The placing and w^eekly 
renewal of the " Bread of the Presence " was evidently among 
the principal Temple services.^ The " table of shewbread " 
stood along the northern, or most sacred side of the Holy Place, 
being ranged lengthways of the Temple, as all its furniture 
was, except the Ark of the Covenant, which stood broadways. 
As described by the Rabbis, and represented on the 
triumphal Arch of Titus at Rome, the table of shewbread 
was two cubits long (two cubits = three feet), one cubit 
broad, and one and a half highJ It was made of pure 
gold, the feet being turned out and shaped to represent those 
of animals, and the legs connected, about the middle, by a 
golden plate, which was surrounded by a " crown," or wreath, 
while another wreath ran round the top of the table. Thus 
far its form was the same as that made at the first for the 
tabernacle,^ which was of shittim-wood, overlaid with gold. 

^ Ex. XXV. 30 ; XXXV. 13 ; xxxix. 36. ^ Isa. Ixiii. 9. 

3 The curious explanation of the Rabbis (Misk. Men, xi. 4) that it was called 
** Bread of the Faces" because it was equally baked all round, as it were, all 
** faces," needs no refutation. 

* Numb. iv. 7. ^ Matt. xii. 4 ; Luke vi. 4; Heb. ix. 2. ^ 2 Chron. xiii. 10, 11. 

■^ The table on the Arch of Titus seems only one cubit high. We know that it 
was placed by the victor in the Temple of Peace ; was carried about the middle of 
the fifth century to Africa, by the Vandals under Genseric, and that Belisarius 
brought it back in 520 to Constantinople, wiieuce it was sent to Jerusalem. 

® Ex, XXV 23, eto. 



154 ^'^^ Temple, its Ministry and Services 

The *' table" originally provided for the second Temple had 
been taken away by Antiochus Epiphanes (about 170 B.C.); 
but another was supplied by the Maccabees. Josephus tells 
a story ^ about the gift of yet another and most splendid one 
by Ptolemy Philadelphus. But as its description does not 
tally with the delineations. on the Arch of Titus, we infer 
that at the time of Christ the '* table " of the Maccabees 
stood in the Holy Place.^ 

Considerable doubt exists as to the precise meaning of the 
terms used in Scripture to describe the golden vessels con- 
nected with the "table of shewbread."^ The "dishes" are 
generally regarded as those on which the " shewbread " was 
either carried or placed, the "spoons" as destined for the 
incense, and the " covers," or rather " flagons," and the " bowls" 
for the wine of the drink-offering. On the Arch of Titus there 
are also two urns. But all this does not prove, in the silence 
of Scripture, and against the unanimous testimony of tra- 
dition, that either flagons, or bowls, or urns were placed on the 
table of shewbread, nor that drink-offerings were ever brought 
into the "Holy Place." ^ On the other hand, the Rabbis 
regard the Hebrew terms, rendered "covers" and " bowls,'" 
as referring to hollow golden tubes which were placed between 
the shewbread so as to allow the air to circulate between 
them ; three of these tubes being always put under each, 
except the highest, under which there were only two, while 
the lowest rested on the table itself, or, rather, on a golden 
dish upon it. Thus they calculate that there were, in all, 

1 A7it. xii. 2, 8. 

'^ Winer has, on other grounds, thrown doubt on the account of Josephus. 

^ Ex. XXV. 29. 

^ We cannot here enter into the discussion, which the reader will find in Relan- 

dus, Aiitiq., pp. 39, 41. 



Sabbath in the Temple. 155 

twenty-eight of these tubes to support the twelve loaves. 
The " tubes " were drawn out each Friday, and again inserted 
between the new shewbread each Sunday, since the task of 
removing and reinserting them was not among those labours 
which made "void the Sabbath." Golden dishes, in which 
the shewbread was carried, and golden lateral plates, further 
to protect it on the stand, are also mentioned by the Rabbis. 
The " shewbread " was made of the finest wheaten flour, 
that had been passed through eleven sieves. There were 
twelve of these cakes, according to the number of the tribes 
of Israel, ranged in two piles, each of six cakes. Each cake 
was made of two omers of wheat (the omer = about five 
pints). Between the tw^o rows, not upon them (as according to 
the Rabbis),^ two bowls with pure incense were placed, and, 
according to Egyptian tradition,^ also salt. The cakes were 
anointed in the middle with oil, in the form of a cross. As 
described by Jewish tradition, they were each five hand- 
breadths broad and ten handbreadths long, but turned up 
at either end, two handbreadths on each side, to resemble 
in outline the Ark of the Covenant. Thus, as each cake, 
after being *^ turned up," reached six handbreadths and 
was placed lengthwise on the breadth of the table, it 
would exactly cover it (the one cubit of the table being 
reckoned at six handbreadths) ; while, as the two rows of six 
cakes stood broadwise against each other (2x5 hand- 
breadths), it would leave between them two handbreadths 
vacant on the length of the table (2 cubits = 12 hand- 
breadths), on which the two bowls with the incense were 
placed.^ The preparation of the shewbread seems to have 

1 Menach. xi. 5. ^ LXX. Lev. xxiv. 7 ; Philo ii. 15 1. 

• We have been thus particular on account of the inaccuracies in so many articles 



156 The Temple^ its Ministry a7id Services. 

been hereditarily preserved as a secret family tradition in 
**the house of Garmu," a family of the Kohathites.^ The 
fresh cakes of shewbread were deposited in a golden dish on 
the marble table in the porch of the sanctuary, where they 
remained till the Sabbath actually commenced. 

The mode of changing the shewbread may be given in the 
words of the Mishnah '? '' Four priests enter (the Holy Place), two 
carrying, each, one of the piles (of six shewbread), the other 
two the two dishes (of incense). Four priests had preceded 
them — two to take off the two (old) piles of shewbread, and 
two the two (old) dishes of incense. Those who brought in 
(the bread and incense) stood at the north side (of the table), 
facing southwards ; they who took away at the south side, 
facing north : these lifted off, and those replaced ; the hands 
of these being right over against the hands of those (so as to 
lift off and put on exactly at the same moment), as it is 
written : * Thou shalt set upon the table bread of the Presence 
before Me alway.' " The shewbread which had been taken 
off was then deposited on the golden table in the porch of the 
sanctuary, the incense burnt on that heap on the altar of 
burnt offering from which the coals were taken for the altar of 
incense, after which the shewbread was distributed among the 
outgoing and the incoming course of priests.' The incoming 
priests stood at the north side, the outgoing at the south side, 
and each course gave to the high-priest half of their portion. 



on this subject. It ought to be stated that another Mishnic authority than that we 
have followed seems to have calculated the cubit at ten handbreadths, and accord- 
ingly gives different measurements for the ** shewbread ;" but the result is substan- 
tially the same. 

1 I Chron. ix. 32 ; Mish, Shekal, v. I. « Men. xi. 7. 

^ According to other authorities, however, the incense of the shewbread was 
burned along with the morning sacrifice on the Sabbath. 



Sabbath in the Temple. 157 

The shewbread was eaten during the Sabbath, and in the 
Temple itself, but only by such priests as were in a state of 
Levitical purity. 

The importance of the service which has just been 
described depended, of course, on its meaning. Ancient 
symbolism, both Jewish and Christian, regarded " the bread 
of the Presence *' as an emblem of the Messiah. This view is 
substantially, though not literally, correct. Jehovah, who 
dwelt in the Most Holy Place between the Cherubim, was 
the God manifest and worshipped in the Holy Place. There 
the mediatorial ministry, in the name of, and representing 
Israel, "laid before" Him the bread of the Presence, kindled 
the seven-lamped candlestick, and burnt incense on the 
golden altar. The " bread " *' laid before Him " in the 
northern or most sacred part of the Holy Place was that of 
His Presence, and meant that the Covenant-people owned 
" His Presence '* as their bread and their life ; the candlestick, 
that He was their Lightgiver and Light ; while between the 
table of shewbread and the candlestick burned the incense on 
the golden altar, to show that life and light are joined together, 
and come to us in fellowship with God and prayer. For a 
similar reason, pure incense was placed between the shew- 
bread — for, the life which is in His Presence is one of praise ; 
while the incense was burned before the shewbread was eaten 
by the priests, to indicate God's acceptance and ratification of 
Israel's dependence upon Him, as also to betoken praise to God 
while living upon His Presence. That this "Presence" meant 
the special manifestation of God, as afterwards fully vouch- 
safed in Christ, "the Angel of His Presence," it is scarcely 
necessary to explain at length in this place. 

But although the service of the incoming *' course" of 



158 T^he Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

priests had begun with the renewal of the " shewbread," that 
of the outgoing had not yet completely ceased. In point of 
fact, the outgoing " course " of priests oflfered the morning 
sacrifice on the Sabbath, and the incoming the evening 
sacrifice, both spending the Sabbath in the sanctuary. The 
inspection of the Temple before the Sabbath morning service 
differed from that on ordinary days, inasmuch as the Temple 
itself was lit up to obviate the necessity of the priests carry- 
ing torches on the holy day. The altar of burnt offering 
was cleansed before the usual hour ; but the morning 
service commenced later, so as to give an opportunity of 
attending to as many as possible. All appeared in their 
festive garments, and each carried in his hand some contribu- 
tion for religious purposes. It was no doubt from this that 
the practice was derived of " laying by in store upon the 
first day of the week," which St. Paul recommended to the 
Corinthians.^ Similarly, the apostolic practice of partaking 
the Lord's Supper every Lord's-day may have been in imita- 
tion of the priests eating the shewbread every Sabbath. 
The Sabbath service was in every respect the same as on 
other days, except that at the close of the ordinary morning 
sacrifice the additional offering of two lambs, with its appro- 
priate meat- and drink-ofTerings, was brought.^ When the 
drink-ofTering of the ordinary morning sacrifice was poured 
out, the Levites sang Psa. xcii. in three sections, the priests 
drawing, at the close of each, three blasts from their trumpets, 
and the people worshipping. At the close of the additional Sab- 
bath sacrifice, when its drink-offering was brought, the Levites 
sang the " Song of Moses " in Deut. xxxii. This " hymn " was 
divided into six portions, for as many Sabbaths (ver. I~6 ; 

* I Cor. xvi. I, 2. * Numb, xxviii. 9, 10. 



Sabbath in the Temple. 159 

7^-12; 13-18; 19-28; 29-39; 40-end). Each portion 
was sung in three sections with threefold blasts of the 
priests' trumpets, the people worshipping at each pause. If 
a Sabbath and a "new moon** fell on the same day, the 
Sabbath hymn was sung in preference to that for the new 
moon ; if a feast day fell on the Sabbath, the Sabbath 
sacrifice was offered before that prescribed for the day. At 
the evening sacrifice on the Sabbath the song of Moses in 
Exod- XV. was sung. 

Though not strictly connected with the Temple services, it 
may be desirable briefly to refer to the observance of the 
Sabbatical year, as it was strictly enforced at the time of 
Christ. It was otherwise with the year of Jubilee. Strangely, 
there are traces of the latter during the period before the 
return from Babylon,^ while the Sabbatical year seems to 
have been systematically neglected. Hence Jewish tradition 
explains, in accordance with 2 Chron. xxxvi. 21, that the 
seventy years* captivity were intended to make up the 
neglected Sabbatical years — commencing the calculation, if it 
be taken literally, from about the accession of King Solomon. 
But while, after the return from Babylon, the year of Jubilee 
was no longer kept, at least, as a religious ordinance, the Sab- 
batical year was most strictly observed, not only by the Jews,^ 
but also by the Samaritans.^ Jewish tradition has it, that as 
it took seven years for the first conquest, and other seven 
for the proper division of the Holy Land, " tithes ** were for 

* I Kings xxi. 3; Isa. v. 8; xxxvii. 30; Ixi. 1-3; Ezek. L i; vii. 12; 
Micah ii. 2. 

* Neh. X. 31 ; I Mace. vi. 49, 53 ; Jos. Antiq, xiii. 8, I ; xiv. 10, 6 ; xv. I, 2 ; 

Jew, IVarSy i. 2-4. 
' Antiq. xi. 8, 6. 



i6o The Tonple, its Ministry and Services. 

the first time paid fourteen years after the entrance of Israel 
into Canaan ; and the first Sabbatical year fell seven years 
later, or in the twenty-first year of their possession of 
Palestine. The Sabbatical law extended only to the soil of 
Palestine itself, which, however, included certain surrounding 
districts. The Rabbis add this curious proviso, that it was 
lawful to use (though not to store or sell) the spontaneous pro- 
duce of the land throughout the extent originally possessed by 
Israel, but that even the use of these products was prohibited 
in such districts as having originally belonged to, were again 
occupied by Israel after their return from Babylon. But this, 
as other rules laid down by the Rabbis, had many exceptions.^ 
As Divinely enjoined, the soil was to be left uncultivated 
at the end of every period of six years, beginning, as the 
Jews argue, after the Passover for the barley, after Pente- 
cost for the wheat, and after the Feast of Tabernacles for 
all fruit-trees. The Sabbatical year itself commenced, as 
most of them hold, on New Year's Day, which fell on the 
new moon of the tenth month, or Tishri.^ Whatever grew of 
itself during the year was to belong to the poor,^ which, how- 
ever, as. Lev. xxv. 6 shows, did not exclude its use as " meat," 
only its storage and sale, by the family to which the land 
belonged. Yet a third Scriptural notice constitutes the Sab- 
batical year that of " the Lord's release," when no debt might be 
claimed from an Israelite ;* while a fourth enjoins, that. '' in the 
solemnity of the year of release, in the Feast of Tabernacles," 
the law was to be read *' before all Israel in their hearing." * 
It has been strangely overlooked that these four ordinances, 

• Mish. Shev. vi. i. 

• The year of Jubilee began on the loth of Tishri, being the Day of Atonement. 

• Ex. xxiii. 10, II. * Deut. xv. 1-6. * Deut. xxxi. lo, ii. 



Sabbath in the Temple. i6i 

instead of beipg separate and distinct, are in reality closely 
connected. As the assignment of what grew of itself did 
not exclude the usufruct by the owners, so it also followed 
of necessity that, in a year when all agricultural labour ceased, 
debts should not be claimed from an agricultural population. 
Similarly, it was quite in accordance with the idea of the 
Sabbath and the Sabbatical year that the law should be 
publicly read, to indicate that '* the rest " was not to be one 
of idleness, but of meditation on the Word of God. ^ It 
will be gathered that in this view the Divine law had not 
intended the absolute remission of debts, but only their 
*' release " during the Sabbatical year.^ Jewish tradition, 
indeed, holds the opposite ; but, by its ordinances, it ren- 
dered the law itself void. For, as explained by the Rabbis, 
the release from debt did not include debts for things pur- 
chased in a shop, nor judicial fines, nor yet money lent on 
a pledge. But, as the great Rabbi Hillel found that even 
these exceptions were not sufficient to insure the loan of 
money in view of the Sabbatical year, he devised a formula 
called " Prosbul " (probably *^ addition," from a Greek word to 
the same effect), by which the rights of a creditor were 
fully secured. The "Prosbul" ran thus: "I, A. B., hand to 
you, the judges of C. D. (a declaration), to the effect that I 
may claim any debt due to me at whatever time I please." 
This '' Prosbul," signed by the judges or by witnesses, 

* Idleness is quite as much contrary to the Sabbath law as labour : "not doing 
thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words " 
(Isa. Iviii. 13). 

* The manumission of Jewish slaves took place in the seventh year of their 
bondage, whenever that might be, and bears no reference to the Sabbatical year, 
with which, indeed, some of its pro^^sions could not easily have been compatible 
(DeuL XV. 14). 

M 



1 62 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

enabled a creditor to claim money lent even in the Sabbatical 
year ; and though professedly applying only to debts on real 
property, was so worded as to cover every case. ^ But even 
this was not all, and the following legal fiction was suggested 
as highly meritorious to all concerned. The debtor was to 
offer payment, and the creditor to reply, " I remit ; " upon 
which the debtor was to insist that " nevertheless '' the creditor 
was to accept the repayment. In general, money owing to 
Jewish proselytes was to be repaid to them, but not to their 
heirs, even though they also had turned Jews, as by becoming 
a proselyte a man had separated himself from his kin, who 
therefore were no longer, strictly speaking, his natural heirs. 
Still, to make payment in such a case was deemed specially 
meritorious. The Rabbinical evasions of the law, which for- 
bade the use of that which had grown spontaneously on the 
soil, are not so numerous nor so irrational. It was ruled 
that part of such products might be laid by in the house, 
provided sufficient of the same kind were left in the field 
for cattle and beasts to feed upon. Again, as m.uch land 
might be tilled as was necessary to make payment of tribute 
or taxes. The omer (or '* wave-sheaf") at the Passover, and 
the two wave-loaves at Pentecost, were also to be made from 
the barley and wheat grown that year in the field. Lastly, 
Rabbinical ordinance fixed the following portions as being 
*' the law " which was to be publicly read in the Temple by 
the king or the high-priest at the Feast of Tabernacles in the 
Sabbatical year, viz., Deut. i. 1-6; vi. 4-8; xi. 13-22; xiv. 
22; XV. 23; xvii. 14; xxvi. 12-19 \ xxvii., xxviii. ^ This 

1 Mish. Shev,^ sec. x. 

* Mish. Sotah, vii. 8, where a eurious story is also told, to show how deeply King 
Agrippa was affected when performing this service. 



Sabbath in the Temple. 163 

service concluded with a benediction, which resembled that of 
the high-priest on the Day of Atonement, except that it 
referred not to the remission of sins.^ 

The account just given proves that there was scarcely any 
Divme ordinance, which the Rabbis, by their traditions, 
rendered more fully void, and converted into *' a yoke which 
neither our fathers nor we were able to bear," than the Sab- 
bath law. On the other hand, the Gospels bring before us Christ 
more frequently on the Sabbath than on any other festive occa- 
sion. It seemed to be His special day for working the work of 
His Father. On the Sabbath He preached in the synagogues ; 
He taught in the Temple ; He healed the sick ; He came to the 
joyous meal with which the Jews were wont to close the day.^ 
Yet their opposition broke out most fiercely in proportion as 
He exhibited the true meaning and object of the Sabbath. 
Never did the antagonism between the spirit and the letter 
more clearly appear. And if in their worship of the letter 
they crushed out the spirit of the Sabbath law, we can 
scarcely wonder that they so overlaid with their ordinances 
the appointment of the Sabbatical year as well-nigh to extin- 
guish its meaning.^ That evidently was, that the earth, and 
all that is upon it, belongeth to the Lord ; that the eyes of 
all wait upon Him, that He may " give them their meat in 
due season ;"* that the land of Israel was His special posses- 
sion ; that man liveth not by bread alone, but by every word 
which proceedeth from the mouth of the Lord and that He 

^ Relandus, suggests that the expression (Matt. xxiv. 20), ** pray that your flight 
be not on the Sabbath," may apply to the Sabbatical year, as one in which the 
fugitives would find it difficult to secure needful support. 

"^ Luke xiv. I. 

* Compare also the remarks by Oehler in Herzog's Encycl,^ xii. p. 211/ 

* Psa. civ. 27 ; cxlv. 16. 



164 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

giveth us our daily bread, so that it is vain to rise up early, 
to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows. ^ Beyond it all, it 
pointed to the fact of sin and redemption : the whole 
creation which "groaneth and travaileth in pain together 
until now," waiting for and expecting that blessed Sabbath, 
when ''creation itself shall be delivered from the bondage 
of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of 
God." ^ Thus, as the Sabbath itself, so the Sabbatical year 
pointed forward to the " rest which remaineth to the people 
of God," when, contest and labour completed, they sing, ** on 
the other side of the flood," the song of Moses and of the 
Lamb : ^ " Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God 
Almighty ; just and true are Thy ways. Thou King of saints. 
Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name ? 
for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and 
worship before Thee ; for Thy judgments are made manifest."* 

* Psa. cxxvii. 2. ' Rom. viii. 21, 22. ' Rev. xv 3, 4. 

* For an account of the Sabbaticad years, mentioned by tradition, see Wieseler, 
Chron. Synopse^ p. 204. 



CHAPTER X. 

FESTIVE CYCLES AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE CALENDAR. 

•* Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the 
temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast ? " — ^JOHN xi. 56. 

THE symbolical character which is to be traced in all 
the institutions of the Old Testament, appears also in 
the arrangement of its festive calendar. Whatever classi- 
fication of the festivals may be proposed, one general 
characteristic pervades the whole. Unquestionably, the 
number seven marks in Scripture the sacred measurement 
of time. The Sabbath is the seventh of days ; seven weeks 
aftei the commencement of the ecclesiastical year is the Feast 
ef Pentecost ; the seventh month is more sacred than the rest, 
its " firstborn " or " New Moon '' being not only devoted to 
the Lord like those of the other months, but specially cele- 
brated as the " Feast of Trumpets," while three other festivals 
occur within its course — the Day of Atonement, the Feast 
of Tabernacles, and its Octave.^ Similarly, each seventh year 
is Sabbatical, and after seven times seven years comes that 
of Jubilee. Nor is this all. Seven days in the year may 
be designated as the most festive, since in them alone *^ no 

* Further particulars are given in the chapter on the Feast of Tabernacles. 



1 66 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

servile work " was to be done/ while on the so-called minor 
festivals {Moed Kato?i), that is, on the days following the first 
of the Passover week and of that of Tabernacles, the diminu- 
tion of festive observances and of restrictions on labour marks 
their less sacred character. 

Besides this general division of time by the sacred number 
seven, certain general ideas probably underlay the festive 
cycles. Thus we may mark two, or else three, such cycles ; 
the one commencing with the Paschal sacrifice and ending 
on the Day of Pentecost, to perpetuate the memory of Israel's 
calling and wilderness life ; the other, which occurs in the 
seventh month (of rest), marking Israel's possession of the 
land and grateful homage to Jehovah. From these two 
cycles the Day of Atonement may have to be distinguished, 
as intermediate between, applying to both, and yet possessing 
a character of its own, as Scripture calls it, "a Sabbath of 
Sabbatism,"^ in which not only ''servile work," but as on 
the v/eekly Sabbath, labour of any kind was prohibited. 
In Hebrew two terms are employed — the one, Moed, or 
appointed meeting, applied to all festive seasons, including 
Sabbaths and New Moons ; the other, Chag, from a root 
which means " to dance," or ** to be joyous," applying exclu- 
sively to the three festivals of Easter, Pentecost, and Taber- 
nacles, in which all males were to appear before the Lord in 
His sanctuary. If we might venture to render' the general 
term Moadim by " trystings " of Jehovah with His people, 
the other would be intended to express the joyousness which 

^ These are: the first and the seventh days of the ** Feast of Unleavened 
Bread," Pentecost, New Year's Day, the Day of Atonement, the first day of the 
Feast of Tabernacles, and its Octave. 

2 The term is rendered in the Authorised Version, *' Sabbath of rest," Lev. xvi. 
31 ; xxiii. 32. 



Festive Cycles and Arrangement of Calendar. 167 

was to be a leading characteristic of the "pilgrim-feasts.'* 
Indeed, the Rabbis expressly mention these three as marking 
the great festivals : Reiyahy Chagigahy and Simchah ; that is, 
presence, or appearance at Jerusalem ; the appointed festive 
offerings of the worshippers, which are not to be confounded 
with the public sacrifices offered on these occasions in the 
name of the whole congregation ; and joyousness, with which 
they connect the freewill offerings that each brought, as the 
Lord had blessed him, and which afterwards were shared 
with the poor, the desolate, and the Levite, in the joyous 
meal that followed the public services of the Temple. To 
these general characteristics of the three great feasts we 
ought, perhaps, to add in regard to all festive seasons, that 
each was to be a " holy convocation," or gathering for sacred 
purposes ; the injunction of " rest " from '' servile," or else 
from all work ; and, lastly, certain special sacrifices which 
were to be brought in the name of the whole congregation. 
Besides the Mosaic festivals, the Jews celebrated at the time 
of Christ two other feasts — that of Esther, or Purinij and that 
of the Dedication of the Temple^ on its restoration by Judas 
the Maccabee. Certain minor observances, and the public 
fasts in memory of the great national calamities, will be noticed 
in the sequeL Private fasts would, of course, depend on indi- 
viduals, but the strict Pharisees were wont to fast every Mon- 
day and Thursday^ during the weeks intervening between the 
Passover and Pentecost, and again, between the Feast of 
Tabernacles and that of the Dedication of the Temple. It is 
to this practice that the Pharisee in the parable refers^ when 
boasting : " I fast twice in the week." 

» Because on a Thursday Moses had gone up to Mount Sinai, and came down on a 
Monday, when he received for the sec and tune the Tables of the Law. "^ Luke xviii. I2. 



1 68 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

The duty of appearing three times a year in the Temple 
applied to all male Israelites — bondsmen, the deaf, dumb, and 
lame, those whom sickness, infirmity, or age rendered incapable 
of going on foot up the mountain of the house, and, of course, all 
in a state of Levitical uncleanness, being excepted. In general, 
the duty of appearing before the Lord at the services of His 
house was deemed paramount. Here an important Rabbinical 
principle came in, which, although not expressed in Scripture, 
seems clearly founded upon it, that " a sacrifice could not be 
offered for any one unless he himself were present," to pre- 
sent and to lay his hand upon it.^ It followed that, as the 
morning and evening sacrifices, and those on feast-days were 
purchased with money contributed by all, and offered on behalf 
of the whole congregation, all Israel should have attended 
these services. This was manifestly impossible, but to repre- 
sent the people twenty-four courses of lay attendants were 
appointed, corresponding to those of the priests and the Levites. 
These were the " stationary men," or " men of the station," or 
** standing men," from " their standing there in the Temple as 
Israel's representatives." For clearness sake, we repeat that each 
of these *' courses " had its *' head," and served for one week ; 
those of the station on service, who did not appear in Jerusalem, 
meeting in a central synagogue of their district, and spending 
the time in fasting and prayer for their brethren. On the day 
before the Sabbath, on the Sabbath itself, and on the day fol- 
lowing, they did not fast, on account of the joy of the Sabbath. 
Each day they read a portion of Scripture, the first and second 
chapters of Genesis being for this purpose arranged into sec- 
tions for the week. This practice, which tradition traced up 
to Samuel and David,^ was of ancient date. But the " men 

^ Lev. i. 3 ; iii. 2, 8. • Taan, iv. 2. 



Festive Cycles and Arrangement of Cale7tdar. 169 

of the station" did not impose hands on either the morning or 
evening sacrifice, nor on any other pubUc offering.^ Their 
duty was twofold : to represent all Israel in the services of 
the sanctuary, and to act as a sort of guide to those who had 
business in the Temple. Thus, at a certain part of the ser- 
vice, the head of the course brought up those who had come to 
make an atonement on being cleansed from any impurity, and 
ranged them along the " Gate of Nicanor," in readiness for 
the ministry of the officiating priests. The " men of the sta- 
tion " were dispensed from attendance in the Temple on all 
occasions when the ** Hallel " was chanted,^ possibly because 
the responses of the people when the hymn was sung showed 
that they needed no formal representatives. 

Hitherto we have not adverted to the difficulties which 
those who intended to appear in Jerusalem at the feasts 
would experience from the want of any fixed calendar. 
As the year of the Hebrews was lunar ^ not solar, it con- 
sisted of only 354 days 8 hours 48' 38''. This, distributed 
among twelve months, would in the course of years have 
completely disordered the months, so that the first month, 
or Nisan (corresponding to the end of March or the begin- 
ning of April), in the middle of which the first ripe barley 
was to be presented to the Lord, might have fallen in the 
middle of winter. Accordingly, the Sanhedrim appointed 
a Committee of three, of which the chief of the Sanhedrim 
was always president, and which, if not unanimous, might 
be increased to seven, when a majority of voices would 

^ The ox^y public offerings, with ''imposition of hands," were the scapegoat on 
the Day of Atonement, and the bullock when the congregation had sinned through 
ignorance. 

2 This happened therefore on eighteen days of the year. These will be specified 
in a subsequent chapter. 



170 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

suffice, to determine which year was to be made a leap- 
year by the insertion of a thirteenth month. Their resolu- 
tion^ was generally taken in the twelfth month (Adar), the 
additional, or thirteenth month (Ve-Adar), being inserted 
between the twelfth and the first. A Sabbatical year could 
not be a leap-year, but that preceding it was always such. 
Sometimes two, but never three leap-years succeeded each 
other. Commonly, every third year required the addition 
of a month. The mean duration of the Jewish month being 
29 days 12 hours 44' 3^', it required, during a period of 
nineteen years, the insertion of seven months to bring the 
lunar era in accordance with the Julian. 

And this brings up yet another difficulty. The Jews 
calculated the month according to the phases of the moon, 
each month consisting of either twenty-nine or thirty days, 
and beginning with the appearance of the new moon. But 
this opened a fresh field of uncertainty. It is quite true that 
every one might observe for himself the appearance of a 
new moon. But this would again partly depend on the state 
of the weather. Besides, it left an authoritative declaration 
of the commencement of a month unsupplied. And yet not 
only was the first of every month to be observed as " New 
Moon's, Day," but the feasts took place on the loth, iSth, 
or other day of the month, which could not be accurately 
determined without a certain knowledge of its beginning. 
To supply this want the Sanhedrim sat in the '' Hall of 
Polished Stones " to receive the testimony of credible wit- 

^ Tradition has it, that neither high-priest nor king ever took part in these 
deUberations, the former because he might object to a leap-year as throwing the 
Day of Atonement later into the cold season ; the king, because he might wish for 
thirteen months, in order to get thirteen months' revenue in one year ! 



Festive Cycles and Arrangement of Calendar.^ 171 

nesses that they had seen the new moon. To encourage as 
many as possible to come forward on so important a testi- 
mony, these witnesses were handsomely entertained at the 
public expense. If the new moon had appeared at the 
commencement of the 30th day — which would correspond 
to our evening of the 29th, as the Jews reckoned the day 
from evening to evening — the Sanhedrim declared the pre- 
vious month to have been one of twenty-nine days, or " im- 
perfect." ^ Immediately thereon men were sent to a signal- 
station on the Mount of Olives, where beacon-fires were lit 
and torches waved, till a kindling flame on a hill in the 
distance indicated that the signal had been perceived. Thus 
the tidings, that this was the new moon, would be carried 
from hill to hill, far beyond the boundaries of Palestine, 
to those of the dispersion, ''beyond the river.'' Again, if 
credible witnesses had not appeared to testify to the appear- 
ance of the new moon on the evening of the 29th, 
the next evening, or that of the 30th, according to our 
reckoning, was taken as the commencement of the new 
month, in which case the previous month was declared to 
have been one of thirty days, or '* fully It was ruled that 
a year should neither have less than four nor more than eight 
such full months of thirty days. 

But these early fire-signals opened the way for serious incon- 
venience. The enemies of the Jews lit beacons to deceive 
those at a distance, and it became necessary to send special 
messengers to announce the new moon. These were, how- 
ever, dispatched only seven times in the year, just in time 
for the various feasts — in NisaUy for the Passover on the 

1 The formula used by the Sanhedrim upon declaring the new moon was, " It is 
sacred ! " 



172 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

15th, and in the month following, lyar, for the ** Second 
Passover," kept by those who had been debarred from the 
first ;^ m Ab (the fifth month), for the fast on the 9th, on 
account of the destruction of Jerusalem ; in Elul (the sixth 
month), on account of the approaching solemnities of Tishri ; 
in Tishri (the seventh month), for its festivals ; in K is lev (the 
ninth month), for the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple ; 
and in Adar, for Purim, Thus, practically, all difficulties 
were removed, except in reference to the month Elul, since, 
as the new moon of the following month, or Tishri, was the 
*' Feast of Trumpets," it would be exceedingly important to 
know in time whether Elul had twenty-nine or thirty days. 
But here the Rabbis ruled that Elul should be regarded as a 
month of twenty-nine days, unless a message to the contrary 
were received — that, indeed, since the days of Ezra it had 
always been so, and that accordingly New Year's Day would 
be the day after the 29th of Elul To make, however, 
assurance doubly sure, it soon became the practice to keep 
New Year's Day on two successive days, and this has since 
been extended into a duplication of all the great feast days 
(of course, with the exception of fasts), and that, although 
the calendar has long been fixed, and error is therefore no 
more possible. 

The present Hebrew names of the months are variously 
supposed to be derived from the Chaldee, or from the Persian 
language. They certainly do not appear before the return 
from Babylon. Before that, the months were named only 
after their numbers, or else from the natural phenomena 
characteristic of the seasons, as Abib, ** sprouting," "green 
ears," for the first ; ^ Ziv, " splendour," " flowering," for the 

1 Numb. ix. 9-1 1. ^ gx. xiii. 4; xxiii. 15 ; Deut. xvi. I. 



Festive Cycles and Arrangement of Calendar. 1 73 

second ; ^ Btdy " rain," for the eighth ; ® and Ethanim^ " flow- 
ing rivers," for the seventh.^ The division of the year into 
ecclesiastical^ which commenced with the month Nisan (the 
end of March or beginning of April), or about the spring 
equinox, and civile which commenced with the seventh 
month, or Tishri^ corresponding to the autumn equinox, has 
by many likewise been supposed to have only originated after 
the return from Babylon. But the analogy of the twofold 
arrangement of weights, measures, and money into civil and 
sacred, and other notices seem against this view, and it is more 
likely that from the first the Jews distinguished the civil year, 
which began inTishri, from the ecclesiastical, which commenced 
in NisaUy from which month, as the first, all the others were 
counted. To this twofold division the Rabbis add, that for 
tithing the herds and flocks the year was reckoned from Elul 
to Ehdy and for taxing fruits often from Shebat to Shebat 

The earliest era adopted by the Jews was that which was 
reckoned to commence with the deliverance from Egypt. 
During the reigns of the Jewish kings, time was computed 
from the year of their accession to the throne. After their 
return from exile, the Jews dated their years according to the 
Seleucidic era, which began 312 B.C., or 3,450 from the creation 
of the world. For a short time after the war of independence, 
it became customary to reckon dates from the year of the 
liberation of Palestine. However, for a very long period after 
the destruction of Jerusalem (probably, till the twelfth 
century A.D.), the Seleucidic era remained in common use, 
when it finally gave place to the present mode of reckoning 
among the Jews, which dates from the creation of the world. 
To commute the Jewish year into that of our common era, 

1 I Kings vi. I. ^ I Kings vi. 38. ^ I Kings viii. 2. 



174 ^^ Temphy its Ministry and Services. 

we have to add to the latter 3,761, always bearing in mind, 
however, that the common or civil Jewish year commences in 
the month of Tishri, i.e,^ in autumn. 

The week was divided into seven days, of which, however, 
only the seventh — the Sabbath — had a name assigned to it, 
the rest being merely noted by numerals. The day was 
computed from sunset to sunset, or rather to the appearance 
of the first three stars with which a new day commenced. 
Before the Babylonish captivity, it was divided into morning, 
mid-day, evening, and ni^^^ht ; but during the residence in 
Babylon, the Hebrews adopted the division of the day into 
twelve hours, whose duration varied with the length of the 
day. The longest day consisted of fourteen hours and twelve 
minutes ; the shortest, of nine hours forty-eight minutes ; 
the difference between the two being thus more than four 
hours. On an average, the first hour of the day corresponded 
nearly to our 6 a.m. ; the third hour (when, according to 
Matthew xx. 3, the market-place was full), to our 9 a.m. ; the 
close of the sixth hour, to our mid-day ; while at the eleventh, 
the day neared its close. The Romans reckoned the hours 
from midnight, a fact which explains the apparent discrepancy 
between John xix. 14, where, at the sixth hour (of Roman 
calculation), Pilate brings Jesus out to the Jews, while at the 
third hour of the Jewish, and hence the ninth of the Roman and 
of our calculation,^ He was led forth to be crucified. The night 
was divided by the Romans into four, by the Jews into three 
watches. The Jews subdivided the hour into 1,080 parts 
(chlakim), and again each part into seventy-six moments. 

For the convenience of the reader, we subjoin a calendar, 
showing the occurrence of the various festive days : — 

^ Mark xv. 25. 



Festive Cycles and Arrange7nent of Calendar. 175 

I.— NISAN. 
Spring Equinox, end of March or beginning of ApriL 

DAYS. 

I. New Moon. 

14. The preparation for the Passover and the Paschal Sacrifice^ 

15. First Day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, 

16. Waiving of the first ripe Omer. 
21. Close of the Passover. 

II.— lYAR. 

I. New Moon. 
15. *' Second," or "little" Passover. 

18. Lag-le-Omer, or the 33rd day in Omer, /.^., from the presentation of the first 
ripe sheaf offered on the 2nd day of the Passover, or the 15th of Nisan. 

III.— SiVAN 

I. New Moon. 

6. Feast of Pentecost, or of Weeks — 7 weeks, or 50 days after the beginning of 
the Passover, when the two loaves of first ripe wheat were ** waived," 
commemorative also of the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. 

IV. — ^Thamus. 
I. New Moon. 

17. Fast; taking of Jerusalem on the 9th by Nebuchadnezzar (and on the 17th 

by Titus). If the 17th occur on a Sabbath, the Fast is kept on the day 
following. 

v.— Ab. 
I. New Moon. 
9. Fast — (threefold) destruction of the Temple, 

VI.— Eluu 
I. New Moon. 

VII.— TiSHRI. 

% 

Beginning of Civil YeA 

1&2 New Year's Feast. 

3. Fast for the murder of Gedaliah. 

10. Day of Atonement ; Great Fast. 

15. Feast of Tabernacles. 

21. Close of the above. 

22. Octave of the Feast of Tabernacles. (In the Synagogues, on the 23rd, Feast 

on the annual completion of the Reading of the Law.) 



< 



176 The Temple^ its Ministry ami Services. 
VIIL — ^Marcheshvan or Cheshvan. 

DAYS. 

I. New Moon. 

IX.— KiSLEV. 
I. New Moon. 
25. Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, or of Candles, lasting eight days, in 
remembrance of the Restoration of the Temple after the victory gained 
by Judas Maccabeus (B.C. 148) over the Syrians. 

X.— Tebeth. 
• I. New Moon. 
10, Fast on account of the Siege of Jerusalem. 

XI. — Shebat. 
I. New Moon. 

XII.t-Adar.1 
I. New Moon. 

13. Fast of Esther. If it fall on a Sabbath, kept on the Thursday preceding, 

14. Purim, or Feast of Haman. 

15. Purim Proper. 

* The M^gillath Taanith ("roll of fasts"), probably the oldest Aram ean post- 
biblical record preserved (though containing later admixtures), enumerates thirty- 
five days in the year when fasting, and mostly also public mourning, are not 
allowed. One of these is the day of Herod's death ! This interesting historical 
relic has been critically examined of late by such writers as Derenbourg and Gratz. 
After their exile the ten tribes, or at least their descendants, seem to have dated 
from that event (696 B.C.). This appears from inscriptions on tombstones of the 
Crimean Jews, who have been shown to have descended from the ten tribes, 
(Comp. Davidson in Kitto's CycL iii. 1 1 73.) 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE PASSOVER. 

•* Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be . a new lump, as ye are un- 
leavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us/' — I CoR. v. 7. 

THE cycle of Temple-festivals appropriately opens with 
" the Passover " and " Feast of unleavened bread." For, 
properly speaking, these two are quite distinct,^ the *' Pass- 
over" taking place on the 14th of Nisan, and the " Feast of 
unleavened bread" commencing on the iSth, and lasting for 
seven days, to the 21st of the month. ^ But from their close 
connection they are generally treated as one, both in the Old 
and in the New Testament f and Josephus, on one occasion, 
even describes it as "a feast for eight days."^ 

There are peculiarities about the Passover which mark it as 
the most important, and, indeed, take it out of the rank of 
the other festivals. It was the first of the three feasts on 
which all males in Israel were bound to appear before the 
Lord in the place which He would choose (the two others 
being the Feast of Weeks and that of Tabernacles^). All the 

1 Lev. xxiii. 5, 6 ; Numb, xxviii. 16, 17 ; 2 Chron. xxx. 15, 21 ; Ezra vi. 19, 22 ; 
Mark xiv. I. 

2 Ex. xii. 15. 3 Matt. xxvi. 17; Mark xiv. 12; Luke xxii. I. 

* Antiq. ii. 15, I ; but comp. iii. 10, 5 ; ix. 13, 3. 

• Ex. xxiii. 14; xxxiv. 18-23 ; Lev. xxiii. 4-22; Deut. xvi. 16. 

N . 



178 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

three great festivals bore a threefold reference. They pointed, 
first, to the season of the year, or rather to the enjoyment of the 
fruits of the good land which the Lord had given to His people 
in possession, but of which He claimed for Himself the real 
ownership.^ This reference to nature is expressly stated in 
regard to the Feast of Weeks and that of Tabernacles,'^ but, 
though not less distinct, it is omitted in connection with the 
feast of unleavened bread. On the other hand, great promi- 
nence is given to the historical bearing of the Passover, while 
it is not mentioned in the other two festivals, although it could 
not have been wholly wanting". But the feast of unleavened 
bread celebrated the one grand event which underlay the whole 
history of Israel, and marked alike their miraculous deliverance 
from destruction and from bondage, and the commencement of 
their existence as a nation. For in the night of the Passover 
the children of Israel, miraculously preserved and set free, for 
the first time became a people, and that by the direct interpo- 
sition of God. The third bearing of all the festivals, but espe- 
cially of the Passover, is typical. Every reader of the New 
Testament knows how frequent are such allusions to the Exodus, 
the Paschal Lamb, the Paschal Supper, and the feast of unlea- 
vened bread. And that this meaning was intended from the 
first, not only in reference to the Passover, but to all the feasts, 
appears from the whole design of the Old Testament, and from 
the exact correspondence between the types and the antitypes. 
Indeed it is, so to speak, impressed upon the Old Testament by 
a law of internal necessity. For when God bound up the future 
of all nations in the history of Abraham and his seed,^ He 
made that history prophetic ; and each event and every rite 

* Lev. XXV. 23 ; Psa. Ixxxv. i ; Isa. viii. 8, xiv. 2 ; Hos. ix. 3. 
* Ex. xxiii. 14-16 ; xxxiv, 22. ^ Gen. xii. 3. 



The Passover. 179 

became, as it were, a bud, destined to open in blossom and 
ripen into fruit on that tree under the shadow of which all 
nations were to be gathered. 

Thus nature^ history y and grace combined to give a special 
meaning to the festivals, but chiefly to the Passover. It was 
the feast of spring ; the spring-time of nature, when, after the 
death of winter, the scattered seeds were born into a new 
harvest, and the first ripe sheaf could be presented to the 
Lord ; the spring-time of Israel's history, too, when each year 
the people celebrated anew their national birthday ; and the 
spring-time of grace, their grand national deliverance pointing 
forward to the birth of the true Israel, and the Passover sacri- 
fice to that '* Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
world." Accordingly, the month of the Passover, Abib, or, as 
it was called in later times, Nisan,^ was to be unto them **the 
beginning of months " — the birth-month of the sacred, and at 
the same time the seventh in the civil, year. Here we mark again 
the significance of seven as the sacred or covenant number. On 
the other hand, the Feast of Tabernacles, which closed the fes- 
tive cycle, took place on the 15 th of the seventh month of the 
sacred, which was also the first in the civil, year. Nor is it less 
significant that both the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles 
fell upon the 15th day of the month ; that is, at full moon, or 
when the month had, so to speak, attained its full strength. 

The name of the Passover, in Hebrew Pesach^ and in 
Aramaean and Greek Pascka, is derived from a root which 
means to " step over,'* or to *' overleap,'' and thus points back 
to the historical origin of the festival.^ But the circumstances 
in which the people were placed necessarily rendered its first 

^ Abib is the month of ** sprouting" or of ** green ears.*^* Esth. iii. 7; Neh. 
ii. I. ^ Ex. xii. 



i8o The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

celebration, in some particulars, different from its later observ- 
ance, which, so far as possible, was brought into harmony with 
the general Temple practice. Accordingly, Jewish authorities 
rightly distinguish between " the Egyptian " and the " Perma- 
nent Passover." On its first institution it was ordained that 
the head of every house should, on the loth of Nisan, select 
either a lamb or a kid of the goats, of the first year, and 
without blemish. Later Jewish ordinances, dating after the 
return from Babylon, limit it to a lamb ; and it is explained 
that the four days previous to the slaying of the lamb referred 
to the four generations that had passed after the children 
of Israel went down into Egypt. The lamb was to be 
killed on the eve of the 14th, or rather, as the phrase is, 
*' between the two evenings."^ According to the Samaritans, 
the Karaite Jews, and many modern interpreters, this means 
between actual sunset and complete darkness (or, say, between 
six and seven P.M.) ; but from the contemporary testimony 
of Josephus,^ and from Talmudical authorities, there cannot 
be a doubt that, at- the time of our Lord, it was regarded 
as the interval between the sun's commencing to decline and 
his actual disappearance. This allows a sufficient period for 
the numerous lambs which had to be killed, and agrees with 
the traditional account that on the eve of the Passover the 
daily evening sacrifice was offered an hour, or, if it fell on 
a Friday, two hours, before the usual time. 

In the original institution the blood of this sacrifice was 
to be sprinkled with hyssop on the lintel and the two door- 
posts of the house, probably as being the most prominent 
place of entrance. Then the whole animal, without breaking 
a bone of it, was to be roasted, and eaten by each family — 

1 Ex. xii. 6 ; Lev. xxiii. 5 ; Numb. ix. 3, 5. ^ y^^ JVars, vi. 9, 3. 



The Passover. i8i 

or, if the number of its members were too small, by two 
neighbouring families — along with unleavened bread and b:tter 
herbs, to symboHse the bitterness of their bondage and the 
haste of their deliverance, and also to point forward to the 
manner in which the true Israel were in all time to have fel- 
lowship in the Paschal Lamb.^ All who were circumcised were 
to partake of this meal, and that arrayed as for a journey ; and 
whatsoever was not consumed was to be burnt on the spot. 
These ordinances in regard to the Passover were afterwards 
modified during the journey in the wilderness to the effect, 
that all males were to appear " in the place which the Lord 
shall choose,'' and there alike to sacrifice and to eat the lamb 
or kid, bringing at the same time also another offering with 
them.2 Lastly, it was also ordered that if any man were 
unclean at the time of the regular Passover, or " in a journey 
afar off," he should celebrate it a month later.^ 

The Mishnah ^ contains the following, as the distinctions 
between the " Egyptian " and the " Permanent " Passover : 
'* The Egyptian Passover was selected on the loth, and the 
blood was to be sprinkled with a sprig of hyssop on the 
lintel and the two door-posts, and it was to be eaten in haste 
in the first night ; but the Permanent Passover is observed 
all the seven days ;" L e., the use of unleavened cakes was, 
on its first observance, enjoined only for that one night, 
though, from Israel's haste, it must, for several days, have been 
the only available bread ; while afterwards its exclusive use was 
ordered during the whole week. Similarly, also, the journey of 
the children of Israel commenced on the 15th of Nisan, while in 
after-times that day was observed as a festival like a Sabbath.^ 

* I Cor. V. 7, 8. 2 £x. xxxiv. 18-20 ; Deut. xvi. 2, 16, 17. ^ Numb. ix. 9- 1 1. 
* Pes. ix. 5. 5 Ex. xii. 16 ; Lev. xxiii. 7 ; Numb, xxviii. 18. 



1 82 Tlie Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

To these distinctions the following are also added :} In Egypt 
the Passover was selected on the loth, and killed on the 14th, 
and they did not, on account of the Passover, incur the penalty 
of " cutting off,*' as in later generations ; of the Egyptian Pass- 
over it was said, ** Let him and his neighbour next unto his 
house take it," while afterwards the Passover-companies might 
be indiscriminately chosen ; in Egypt it was not ordered to 
sprinkle the blood and burn the fat on the altar, as afterwards ; 
at the first Passover it was said, ** None of you shall go out 
of the door of his house until the morning," which did not 
apply to later times ; in Egypt it was slain by every one 
in his own house, while afterwards it was slain by all Israel 
in one place ; lastly, formerly where they ate the Passover, 
there they lodged, but afterwards they might eat it in one, 
and lodge in another place. 

Scripture records that the Passover was kept the second 
year after the Exodus,^ and then not again till the Israelites 
actually reached the promised land ;^ but, as the Jewish 
commentators rightly observe, this intermission was directed 
by God Himself* After that, public celebrations of the 
Passover are only mentioned once during the reign of 
Solomon,^ again under that of Hezekiah,^ at the time of 
Josiah,^ and once more after the return from Babylon under 
Ezra.^ On the other hand, a most significant allusion to the 
typical meaning of the Passover-blood, as securing immunity 
from destruction, occurs in the prophecies of Ezekiel,^ where 
*' the man clothed with linen " is directed to " set a mark upon 
the foreheads " of the godly (like the first Passover-mark), so 

1 Tos, Pes, viii. * Numb. ix. 1-5. ^ josh. v. 10. 

* Ex. xii. 25 ; xiii. 5. * 2 Chron. viii. 13. « 2 Chron. xxx. 15. 

' 2 Kings xxiii. 21, • Ezra vi. 19. • Ezek. ix. 4-6, 



The Passoiper. 183 

that they who were to ** slay utterly old and young " might 
not " come near any " of them. The same symbolic refer- 
ence and command occur in the book of Revelation/ in 
regard to those who have been "sealed as the servants of 
our God in their foreheads." 

But the inference that the Passover was only celebrated on 
the occasions actually mentioned in Scripture seems the less 
warranted, that in later times it was so punctiliously and 
universally observed. We can form a sufficiently accurate 
idea of all the circumstances attending it at the time of our 
Lord. On the 14th of Nisan every Israelite who was physi- 
cally able, not in a state of Levitical uncleanness, nor further 
distant from the city than fifteen miles, was to appear in 
Jerusalem. Though women were not legally obliged to go 
up, we know from Scripture,^ and from the rules laid down by 
Jewish authorities,^ that such was the common practice. Indeed, 
it was a joyous time for all Israel. From all parts of the land 
and from foreign countries the festive pilgrims had come up in 
bands, singing their pilgrim psalms, and bringing with them 
burnt- and peace-offerings, according as the Lord had blessed 
them ; for none might appear empty before Him.* How large 
the number of worshippers was, may be gathered from Josephus, 
who records that, when Cestius requested the high-priest to 
make a census, in order to convince Nero of the importance 
of Jerusalem and of the Jewish nation, the number of lambs 
slain was found to be 256,500, which, at the lowest computa- 
tion of ten persons to every sacrificial lamb, would give a 
population of 2,565,000, or as Josephus himself puts it, 

* Rev. vii. 2, 3 ; ix. 4. * i Sam. i. 3-7 ; Luke il 41, 42. 

* Jos. Wars^ vi. 9-3 ; and Misknah Fes, ix. 4, for ex. 

* Ex. xxiii. 15; Deut. xvi. 16, 17. 



184 The Temple^ its Alinistry and Services. 

2,700,200 persons, while on an earlier occasion (a.D. 65) he 
computes the number present at not fewer than three millions.* 
Of course, many of these pilgrims must have camped out- 
side the city walls. * Those who lodged within the walls were 
gratuitously accommodated, and in return left to their hosts 
the skins of the Passover lambs and the vessels which they 
had used in their sacred services. In such festive " company • * 
the parents of Jesus went to, and returned from this feast; 
" every year,** taking their ** holy child " with them, after He 
had attained the age of twelve — strictly in accordance with 
Rabbinical law ( Yoma, 82 a) — -when He remained behind, 
" sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and 
asking them questions." ^ We know that the Lord Him-r 
self afterwards attended the Paschal feast, and that on the 
last occasion He was hospitably entertained in Jerusalem, 
apparently by a disciple,^ although He seems to have in- 
tended spending the night outside the city walls.^ 

But the preparations for the Passover had begun long before 
the 14th of Nisan. Already a month previously (on the 15 th 
of Adar), bridges and roads had been repaired for the use of 
the pilgrims. That was also the time for administering the 
testing draught to women suspected of adultery, for burning 
the red heifer, and for boring the ears of those who wished to 
remain in servitude— in short, for making all kinds of pre- 

1 Jew, Wars, vi. 9, 3 ; ii. 14, 3. These computations, being derived from 
official documents, can scarcely have been much exaggerated. Indeed, Josephus 
expressly guards himself against this charge. 

2 It is deeply interesting that the Talmud (Pes, 53) specially mentions Beth- 
phage and Bethany as celebrated for their hospitality towards the festive pilgrims. 

2 Luke ii. 41-49. ^ Matt. xxvi. 18; Mark xiv. 12-16; Luke xxii. 7-13. 

• Matt, xxvi. 30, 36 J Mark xiv. 26, 32 ; Luke xxii. 39 j John xviii. I. 



The Passover. 185 

Iiminary arrangements before the festive season began. One 
of these is specially interesting as recalling the words of the 
Saviour. In general, cemeteries were outside the cities ; but 
any dead body found in the field was (according to an ordi- 
nance which tradition traces up to Joshua) to be buried on the 
spot where it had been discovered. Now, as the festive pilgrims 
might have contracted ** uncleanness " by unwitting contact 
with such graves, it was ordered that all ** sepulchres " should 
be " whitened " a month before the Passover. It was, there- 
fore, evidently in reference to what He actually saw going on 
around Him at the time He spoke, that Jesus compared 
the Pharisees " unto whited sepulchres, w^hich indeed appear 
beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, 
and of all uncleanness." ^ Then, two weeks before Pesach, 
and at the corresponding time before the other two great 
festivals, the flocks and herds were to be tithed, and also 
the Temple treasury-chests publicly opened and emptied. 
Lastly, we know that " many went out of the country up 
to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves."^ It is 
this practice which finds its spiritual application in regard to 
the better Passover, when, in the words of St. Paul,^ ** whosoever 
shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, 
shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let 
a man examine himself, and so let him eat of tluii bread, and 
drink of that cup." 

The modern synagogue designates the Sabbath before 
the Passover as "the Great Sabbath," and prt crbcs par- 
ticular prayers and special instruction with a view to the 
coming festival. For, according to Jewish tradition, at the 
original institution of the Passover,* the loth of Nisan, on 

* Matt, xxiii. 27. 2 j^j^^ ^i, 55. ' i Cor, xi. 27, 28, * Ex. xii. 3. 



1 86 The Temple y its Ministry and Services. 

which the sacrifice was to be selected, had fallen on a 
Sabbath. But there is no evidence that either the name 
or the observance of this *' Great Sabbath " had been in use 
at the time of our Lord, although it was enjoined to teach 
the people in the various synagogues about the Passover 
during the month which preceded the festival. There is %.lso 
a significant tradition that some were wont to select their 
sacrificial lamb four days before the Passover, and to keep 
it tied in a prominent place within view, so as constantly to 
remind them of the coming service. 

We have already explained that according to the Rabbis,^ 
three things were implied in the festive command to 
''appear before the Lord '* — " Presence," the " Chagigah," and 
*' Joyousness." As specially applied to the Passover, the 
first of these terms meant, that every one was to come up to 
Jerusalem and to offer a burnt-offering, if possible on the 
first, or else on one of the other six days of the feast. This 
burnt-offering was to be taken only from '' Cholin '* (or pro- 
fane substance), that is, from such as did not otherwise belong 
to the Lord, either as tithes, firstlings, or things devoted, etc. 
The Chagigah, which was strictly a peace-offering, might be 
twofold. The first Chagigah was offered on the 14th of 
Nisan, the day of the Paschal sacrifice, and formed afterwards 
part of the Paschal Supper. The second Chagigah was 
offered on the 15th of Nisan, or the first day of the feast of 
unleavened bread. It is this second Chagigah which the 
Jews were afraid they might be unable to eat, if they con- 
tracted defilement in the judgment-hall of Pilate.^ In 
reference to the first Chagigah, the Mishnah lays down the 
rule, that it was only to be offered if the Paschal day 
^ Chag. ii. I ; vi. 2. John xviii. 28. 



The Passover. 187 

fell on a week-day, not on a Sabbath, and if the Paschal lamb 
alone would not have been sufficient to give a satisfying 
supper to the company which gathered around it.^ As in the 
case of all other peace-o^erings, part of this Chagigah might 
be kept, though not for longer than one night and two days 
from its sacrifice. Being a voluntary offering, it was lawful to 
bring it from sacred things (such as tithes of the flock). But 
the Chagigah for the 15th of Nisan was obligatory, and had 
therefore to be brought from *' Cholin/' The third duty 
incumbent on those who appeared at the feast was ** joyous- 
ness/' This expression, as we have seen, simply referred to 
the fact that, according to their means, all Israel were, during 
the course of this festival, with joyous heart to offer peace- 
offerings, which might be chosen from sacred things.^ Thus 
the sacrifices which every Israelite was to offer at the Passover 
were, besides his share in the Paschal lamb, a burnt offering, 
the Chagigah (one or two), and offerings of joyousness — all as 
God had blessed each household. As stated in a previous 
chapter, all the twenty-four courses, into which the priests were 
arranged, ministered in the Temple on this, as on the other 
great festivals, and they dislributed among themselves alike 
what fell to them of the festive sacrifices and the shewbread. 
But the course which, in its proper order, was on duty for the 
week, alone offered all votive, and voluntary, and the public 
sacrifices for the whole congregation, such as those of the 
morning and the evening.^ 

The special preparations for the Passover commenced on 
the evening of the 13th of Nisan, with which, according to 
Jewish reckoning, the 14th began, the day being always 
computed from evening to evening.^ Then the head of the 

^ Pes, vi. 4. 2 Deut. xxvii. 7. ^ Succah v. 7. 

* The article in Kitto's Cycl. (3rd edition), vol. iii. p. 425, calls this day, *'the 



1 88 The Temple, its Mijiistry and Services. 

j house was to search with a lighted candle all places where 
\ leaven was usually kept, and to put what of it he found in the 
house in a safe place, whence no portion could be carried 
away by any accident. Before doing this, he prayed : 
** Blessed art Thou,. Jehovah, our God, King of the Universe, 
who hast sanctified us by Thy commandments, and com- 
manded us to remove the leaven." And after it he said : 
" All the leaven that is in my possession, that which I have 
seen and that which I have not seen, be it null, be it accounted 
as the dust of the earth." The search itself was to be accom- 
plished in perfect silence and with a lighted candle. To this 
search the apostle may have referred in the admonition to 
** purge out the old leaven."^ Jewish tradition sees a reference 
to this search with candles in Zeph. i. 12 : " And it shall come to 
pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with candles." 
If the leaven had not been removed on the evening of the 
13th, it might still be done on the forenoon of the 14th of 
JSfisan. The question what substances constituted leaven was 
thus solved. The unleavened cakes, which were to be the only 
bread used during the feast, might be made of these five 



preparation for the Passover," and confounds it with John xix. 14. But from the 
evening of the 14th to that of the 15th is never called in Jewish writings **the 
preparation for," but ''the eve of, the Passover." Moreover, the period described 
in John xix. 14 was after, not before, the Passoven Dean Al ford's notes on this 
passage, and on Matt. xxvi. 17, suggest a number of needless difficulties, and con- 
tain inaccuracies, due to a want of sufficient knowledge of Hebrew authorities. In 
ittempting an accurate chronology of these days, it must always be remembered 
that the Passover was sacrificed between the evenings of the 14th and the 15th 
of Nisan ; that is, before the close of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th. The 
Paschal Supper, however, took place on the 15th itself (that is, according to 
Jewish reckoning — the day beginning as the first stars became visible). " The 
preparation " in John xix. 14 means, as in verse 31, the preparation-day for the 
Sabbath, and the " Passover," as in xviii. 39, the whole Paschal week. 
* I Cor. V. 7. 



The Passover. 189 

kinds of grain — wheat, barley, spelt, oats, and rye — the 
cakes being prepared before fermentation had begun. Any- 
thing prepared of these five kinds of grain — but only of 
these — would come within range of the term "leaven," that 
is, if kneaded with water, but not if made with any other 
fluid, such as fruit-liquor, etc. 

Early on the forenoon of the 14th of .Nisan the feast of 
the Passover may be said to have begun. In Galilee, no 
work was done all that day ; in Judaea it was continued till 
mid-day; the rule, however, being that no new work was to 
be commenced, though that which was in hand might be 
carried on. The only exception to this was in the case of 
tailors, barbers, and those engaged in the laundry. Even 
earlier than mid-day of the 14th it was no longer lawful to 
eat leaven. The strictest opinion fixes ten o'clock as the 
latest hour when leaven might be eaten, the more lax eleven. 
From that hour to twelve o'clock it was required to abstain 
from leaven, while at twelve it was to be solemnly destroyed, 
either by burning, immersing it in water, or scattering it 
to the winds. To secure strict obedience and uniformity, 
the exact time for abstaining from and for destroying the 
leaven was thus made known : " They laid two desecrated 
cakes of a thank-offering on a bench in the porch (of the 
Temple). So long as they lay there, all the people might 
eat (leavened) ; when one of them was removed, they 
abstained from eating, but they did not burn (the leaven) ; 
when both were removed, all the people burnt (the 
leaven)."^ 

The next care was to select a proper Paschal lamb, 
which, of course, must be free from all blemish, and neither 

^ Pes. i. 5. 



IQO The Temphy its Ministry and Services. 

less than eight days, nor more than exactly one year, old. 
I Each Paschal lamb was to serve for a " company," which 
\ was to consist of not less than ten, nor of more than twenty 
; persons. The company at the "Lord's Passover Supper" 
consisted of Himself and His disciples. Two of them, Peter 
and John, the Master had sent early forward to "prepare 
the Passover," that is, to see to all that was needful for the 
due observance of the Paschal Supper, especially the pur- 
chase and sacrifice of the Paschal lamb. Probably they may 
have purchased it in the Holy City, though not, as in the 
majority of cases, within the Temple-court itself, where a 
brisk and very profitable traffic in all such offerings was 
carried on by the priests. For against this the Lord Jesus 
had inveighed only a few days before, when He "cast out all 
them that sold and bought in the Temple, and overthrew 
the tables of the money-changers,"^ to the astonishment and 
indignation of those who would intensely resent His inter- 
ference with their authority and gains.^ 

While the Saviour still tarried with the other disciples out- 
side the city, Peter and John were completing their prepara- 
tions. They followed the motley crowd, all leading their 
sacrificial lambs up the Temple-mount. Here they were 
grouped into three divisions. Already the evening sacrifice 
had been offered. Ordinarily it was slain at 2.30 P.M., and 
off'ered at about 3.30. But on the eve of the Passover, as we 
have seen, it was killed an hour earlier ; and if the 14th of 
Nisan fell on a Friday — or rather from Thursday at eve to Fri- 
day at eve — two hours earlier, so as to avoid any needless breach 
of the Sabbath. On the occasion to which we refer the evening 
sacrifice had been slain at 1.30, and off*ered at 2.30. But before 
* Matt. xxi. 12, 13. 2 John ii. 13-18. 



The Passover. 191 

the incense was burned or the lamps were trimmed, the 
Paschal sacrifice had to be offered.^ It was done on this 
wise : — The first of the three festive divisions, with their 
Paschal lambs, was admitted within the Court of the Priests. 
Each division must consist of not less than thirty persons 
(3 X 10, the symbolical number of the Divine and of com- 
pleteness). Immediately the massive gates were closed behind - 
them. The priests drew a threefold blast from their silver 
trumpets when the Passover was slain. Altogether the scene 
was most impressive. All along the Court up to the altar of 
burnt-offering priests stood in two rows, the one holding 
golden, the other silver bowls. In these the blood of the 
Paschal lambs, which each Israelite slew for himself (as 
representative of his company at the Paschal Supper), was 
caught up by a priest, who handed it to his colleague, receiv- 
ing back an empty bowl, and so the bowls with the blood 
were passed up to the priest at the altar, who jerked it in one 
jet at the base of the altar. While this was going on, a most •. 
solemn *' hymn " of praise was raised, the Levites leading in 
song, and the offerers either repeating after them or merely ' 
responding. Every first line of a Psalm was repeated by 
the people, while to each of the others they responded by a 
" Hallelujah,'* or " Praise ye the Lord." This service of 
song consisted of the so-called " Hallel," which comprised 
Psalms cxiii. to cxviii. Thus, 

The Levites began : " Hallelu J ah " (Praise ye the Lord). 

The people repeated : ''Hallelu Jah!' 

The Levites : *' Praise {Hallelu), O ye servants of Jehovah.*' 

1 According to the Talmud, *'the daily (evening) sacrifice precedes that of the \ 
Paschal lamb ; the Paschal lamb the burning of the incense ; the incense ^lie ] 
trimming of the lamps " (for the night). 



ig2 The Temple, its Ministry and Services 

The people responded : ** Hallelu Jah^^ 

The Levites : ** Praise {Hallelu) the name of Jehovah.** 

The people responded: *^ Halleht Jah!^ 

Similarly, when Psa. cxiii. had been finished — Psa. cxiv. : 

The Levites : " When Israel went out of Egypt." 

The people repeated : ** When Israel went out of Egypt" 

The Levites : " The house of Jacob froni a people of 

strange language/* 

The people responded : " Hallelu Jah!^ 

And in the same manner, repeating each first line and 

responding at the rest, till they came to Psa. cxviii., when, 

besides the first, these three lines were also repeated by the 

people (verses 25, 26) : 

" Save now, I beseech Thee, Jehovah." 
*' Oh, Jehovah, I beseech Thee, send now prosperity ; " and 
" Blessed be He that cometh in the name of Jehovah." 
May it not be that to this solemn and impressive *' hymn " 

corresponds the Alleluia song of the redeemed Church in 

heaven, as described in Rev. xix. I, 3, 4, 6 } 

CThe singing of the " Hallel " at the Passover dates from 
very remote antiquity. The Talmud dwells on its peculiar 
suitableness for the purpose, since it not only recorded the 
goodness of God towards Israel, but especially their deliver- 
ance from Egypt, and therefore appropriately opened ^ with 
*' Praise ye Jehovah, ye servants of Jehovah" — and no longer 
of Pharaoh. Hence also this " Hallel'' is called the Egyptian, 
or " the Common," to distinguish it from the great " Hallel," 
sung on very rare occasions, which comprised Psalms cxx. to 
cxxxvi. According to the Talmud, the " Hallel " recorded 
five things : *' The coming out of Egypt, the dividing of the 

^ Psa. cxiii. 



The Passover. 193 

sea. the giving of the law, the resurrection of the dead, and 
the lot of the Messiah." The Egyptian '' Hallel," it may here 
be added, was altogether sung on eighteen days and on one 
night in the year. These eighteen days were, that of the 
Passover sacrifice, the Feast of Pentecost, and each of the 
eight days of the Feasts of Tabernacles and of the Dedication 
of the Temple. The only night in which it was recited 
was that of the Paschal Supper, when it was sung by every 
Paschal company in their houses, in a manner which will 
hereafter be explained. 

If the " Hallel " had been finished before the service of one 
division was completed, it was repeated a second and, if need- 
ful, even a third time. The Mishnah remarks, that as the 
Great Court was crowded by the first two divisions, it rarely 
happened that they got further than Psa. cxvi. before the 
services of the third division were completed. Next, the 
sacrifices were hung up on hooks along the Court, or laid 
on staves which rested on the shoulders of two men (on Sab- 
baths they were not laid on staves), then flayed, the entrails 
taken out and cleansed, and the inside fat separated, put in 
a dish, salted, and placed on the fire of the altar of burnt- 
ofi*ering. This completed the sacrifice. The first division 
of off*erers being dismissed, the second entered, and finally 
the third, the service being in each case conducted in pre- 
cisely the same manner. Then the whole service concluded 
by burning the incense and trimming the lamps for the night. 

When all had been finished in the Temple, the priests 
washed the Great Court, in which so much sacrificial blood 
had been shed. But this was not done if the Passover had 
been slain on the Sabbath. In that case, also, the three 
divisions waited — the first in the Court of the Gentiles, the 

o 



194 T^^ Temple, its Mmistry and Services. 

second on the Chel, and the third in the Great Court— so as 
not needlessly to carry their burdens on the Sabbath. 

But, as a general rule, the religious services of the Passover, 
like all positive religious injunctions, ** made void the Sabbath." 
In other respects the Passover, or rather the 15th of Nisan, 
was to be observed like a Sabbath, no manner of work being 
allowed. There was, however, one most important exception 
to this rule. It was permitted to prepare the necessary 
articles of food on the 15th of Nisan. This explains how 
the words of Jesus to Judas during the Paschal (not the 
Lord's) Supper could be misunderstood by the disciples as 
implying that Judas, '' who had the bag," was to *' buy those 
things " that they had " need of against the feast.'' ^ 

It was probably as the sun was beginning to decline in the 
horizon that Jesus and the other ten disciples descended once 
more over the Mount of Olives into the Holy City. Before 
them lay Jerusalem in her festive attire. All around pilgrims 
were hastening towards it. White tents dotted the sward, 
gay with the bright flowers of early spring, or peered out 
from the gardens and the darker foliage of the olive planta- 
tions. From the gorgeous Temple buildings, dazzling in 
their snow-white marble and gold, on which the slanting 
rays of the sun were reflected, rose the smoke of the altar 
of burnt-offering. These courts were now crowded with eager 
worshippers, offering for the last time, in the real sense, their 
Paschal lambs The streets must have been thronged with 
strangers, and the flat roofs covered with eager gazers, who 
either feasted their eyes with a first sight of the Sacred City 
for which they had so often longed, or else once more rejoiced 
in view of the well-remembered localities. It was the last 

* John xiii. 29. 



The Passover. 195 

day- view which the Lord had of the Holy City — till His 
resurrection ! Only once more in the approaching night of 
His betrayal was He to look upon it in the pale light of 
the full moon. He was going forward to " accomplish His 
death" in Jerusalem; to fulfil type and prophecy, and to 
offer Himself up as the true Passover Lamb — *' the Lamb 
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." They who 
followed Him were busy with many thoughts. They knew 
that terrible events awaited them, and they had only a few 
days before been told that these glorious Temple-build- 
ings, to which, with a national pride not unnatural, they 
had directed the attention of their Master, were to become 
desolate, not one stone being left upon the other. Among 
them, revolving his dark plans, and goaded on by the great 
Enemy, moved the betrayer. And now they were within the 
city. Its Temple, its royal bridge, its splendid palaces, its 
busy marts, its streets filled with festive pilgrims, were well 
known to them, as they made their way to the house where 
the guest-chamber had been prepared for them. Meanwhile 
the crowd came down from the Temple-mount, each bearing 
on his shoulders the sacrificial lamb, to make ready for the 
Paschal Supper. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE PASCHAL FEAST AND THE LORD'S SUPPER. 

'* And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave to 
the disciples, and said, Take, eat ; this is My body. And He took the cup, 
and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying. Drink ye all of it ; for this is My 
Dlood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." 
Matt. xxvi. 26-28. 

JEWISH tradition has this curious conceit : that the most 
important events in Israel's history were connected with 
the Paschal season. Thus it is said to have been on the pre- 
sent Paschal night that, after his sacrifice, the ** horror of great 
darkness " fell upon Abraham when God revealed to him the 
future of his race.^ Similarly, it is supposed to have been at 
Passover time that the patriarch entertained his heavenly 
guests, that Sodom was destroyed and Lot escaped, and that 
the walls of Jericho fell before the Lord. More than that — 
the " cake of barley bread " seen in the dream, which led to 
the destruction of Midian's host, had been prepared from the 
Omer, presented on the second day of the feast of unleavened 
bread ; just as at a later period alike the captains of Senna- 
cherib and the king of Assyria, who tarried at Nob, were over- 
taken by the hand of God at the Passover season. It was 

^ Gen. XV. 



The Paschal Feast and the LorcTs Supper. 197 

at the Paschal time also that the mysterious handwriting 
appeared on the wall to declare Babylon's doom, and again at 
the Passover that Esther and the Jews fasted, and that wicked 
Haman perished. And so also in the last days it would be 
the^ Paschal night when the final judgments should come upon 
" Edom,'' and the glorious deliverance of Israel take place. 
Hence to this day, in every Jewish home, at a certain part of 
the Paschal service— just after the " third cup," or the " cup of 
blessing," has been drunk — the door is opened to admit Elijah 
the prophet as forerunner of the Messiah, while appropriate 
passages are at the same time read which foretell the destruc- 
tion of all heathen nations. ^ It is a remarkable coincidence 
that, in instituting His own Supper, the Lord Jesus connected 
the symbol, not of judgment, but of His dying love, with this 
** third cup." But, in general, it may be interesting to know 
that no other service contains within the same space the like 
ardent aspirations after a return to Jerusalem and the rebuild- 
ing of the Temple, nor so many allusions to the Messianic 
hope, as the liturgy for the night of the Passover now in use 
among the Jews. 

If we could only believe that the prayers and ceremonies 
which it embodies were the same as those at the time of our 
Lord, we should have it in our power to picture in minutest 
detail all that took place when He instituted His own Supper. 
We should see the Master as He presided among the festive 
company of His disciples, know what prayers He uttered, and 
at what special parts of the service, and be able to reproduce 
the arrangement of the Paschal table around which they sat. 

At present and for many centuries back the Paschal Sup- 
per has been thus laid out : three large unleavened cakes, 
^ Psa. Ixxix. 6 ; Ixix. 25 ; Lament. iiL 66, 



198 The Temphy its Ministry and Services. 

wrapped in the folds of a napkin, are placed on a salver, and 
on them the seven articles necessary for the *' Passover Supper" 
are ranged in this manner : 

A roasted Egg, Roasted Shankhone of a Lamb, 

(Instead of the 14th day Chagigah.) ^ (Instead of the Paschal Lamb.) 



Charoseth, 
(To represent the mortar of Egypt.) ^ 



K Lettuce. 



Salt Water, Chervil and Parsley, 

But, unfortunately, the analogy does not hold good. As the 
present Passover liturgy contains comparatively very few relics 
from New Testament times, so also the present arrangement 
of the Paschal table evidently dates from a time when sacri- 
fices had ceased. On the other hand, however, by far the 
greater number of the usages observed in our own days are 
precisely the same as eighteen hundred years ago. A feeling, 
not of gratified curiosity, but of holy awe, comes over us, as 
thus we are able to pass back through those many centuries 
into the upper chamber where the Lord Jesus partook of that 
Passover which, with the loving desire of a Saviour's heart. He 
had desired to eat with His disciples. The leading incidents 
of the feast are all vividly before us — the handing of " the sop 
dipped in the dish," " the breaking of bread," " the giving 
thanks," ''the distributing of the cup," and "the concluding 
hymn." Even the exact posture at the Supper is known to 
us. But the words associated with those sacred memories 
come with a strange sound when we find in Rabbinical 
writings the " Passover lamb "^ designated as " His body," or 

1 The words of the Mishnah (Pes. x. 3) are : "While the Sanctuary stood, they 
brought before him his body of (or for) the Passover." The term **body'' also 
sometimes ineajis *' substance." 



The Paschal Feast and the Lord's Stepper. 199 

when our special attention is called to the cup known as " the 
cup of blessing, which we bless ;" nay, when the very term for 
the Passover liturgy itself, the " Haggadah,"^ which means 
" showing forth," is exactly the same as that used by St Paul 
in describing the service of the Lord's Supper!^ 

Before proceeding further we may state that, according to 
Jewish ordinance, the Paschal lamb was roasted on a spit 
made of pomegranate wood, the spit passing right through 
from mouth to vent. Special care was to be taken that in 
roasting the lamb did not touch the oven, otherwise the part 
touched had to be cut away. This can scarcely be regarded 
as an instance of Rabbinical punctiliousness. It was intended 
to carry out the idea that the lamb was to be undefiled by 
any contact with foreign matter, which might otherwise have 
adhered to it. For everything here was significant, and the 
slightest deviation would mar the harmony of the whole. If 
it had been said, that not a bone of the Paschal lamb was to 
be broken, that it was not to be " sodden at all with water, 
but roast with fire^ — his head with his legs, and with the 
purtenance thereof," and that none of it was to " remain until 
the morning," all that had not been eaten being burnt with 
fire*— such ordinances had each a typical object. Of all 
other sacrifices, even the most holy,^ it alone was not to be 
'''sodden," because the flesh must remain pure, without the 
admixture even of water. Then, no bone of the lamb was to 
be broken : it was to be served up entire — none of it was to 
be left over ; and those who gathered around it were to form 

* The same root as employed in Ex. xiii. 8 : ** And thou shalt show thy son in 
tha<: day," and from this the term " Haggadah" has unquestionably been derived, 

* I Cor. xi. 23-29. 

3 This could certainly have borne no reference to the haste of the Exodus. 

* Ex. xii. 8-ia * Lev. vi. 21. 



200 The Temple, its Ministry and Services, 

one family. All this was intended to express that it was to 
be a complete and unbroken sacrifice, on the ground of which 
there was complete and unbroken fellowship with the God who 
had passed by the blood-sprinkled doors, and with those who 
together formed but one family and one body. " The cup of 
blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood 
of Christ } The bread which we break, is it not the communion 
of the body of Christ t For we, being many, are one bread 
and one body ; for we are all partakers of that one bread." ^ 

Such views and feelings, which, no doubt, all truly spiritual 
Israelites shared, gave its meaning to the Paschal feast at 
which Jesus sat down with His disciples, and which He 
transformed into the Lord's Supper by linking it to His 
Person and Work. Every sacrifice, indeed, had prefigured 
His Work ; but none other could so suitably commemorate 
His death, nor yet the great deliverance connected with it, 
and the great union and fellowship flowing from it. For 
other reasons also it was specially suited to be typical of 
Christ. It was a sacrifice, and yet quite out of the order of 
all Levitical sacrifices For it had been instituted and observed 
before Levitical sacrifices existed ; before the Law was given ; 
nay, before the Covenant was ratified by blood. ^ In a sense, 
it may be said to have been the cause of all the later sacrifices 
of the Law, and of the Covenant itself. Lastly, it belonged 
neither to one nor to another class of sacrifices ; it was neither 
exactly a sin-offering nor a peace-offering, but combined them 
both. And yet in many respects it quite differed from them. 
In short, just as the priesthood of Christ was a real Old 
Testament priesthood, yet not after the order of Aaron, but 
after the earlier, prophetic, and royal order of Melchisedek, so 

* I Cor. X. 1 6, 17. 2 Ex. xxiv. 



The Paschal Feast and the Lord's Supper. 201 

the sacrifice also of Christ was a real Old Testament sacrifice, 
yet not after the order of Levitical sacrifices, but after that ol 
the earlier prophetic Passover sacrifice, by which Israel had 
become a royal nation. 

As the guests ^ gathered around the Paschal table, they 
came no longer, as at the first celebration, with their *' loins 
girded," with shoes on their feet, and a staff" in their hand — 
that is, as travellers waiting to take their departure. On the 
contrary, they were arrayed in their best festive garments, 
joyous and at rest, as became the children of a king. To 
express this idea the Rabbis also insisted that the Paschal 
Supper — or at least part of it — must be eaten in that 
recumbent position with which we are familiar from the New 
Testament. *' For," say they, '^ they use this leaning posture, 
as free men do, in memorial of their freedom." And, again, 
** Because it is the manner of slaves to eat standing, therefore 
now they eat sitting and leaning, in order to show that they 
have been delivered from bondage into freedom." And, 
finally : " No, not the poorest in Israel may eat till he has sat 
down, leaning." But, though it was deemed desirable to " sit 
leaning" during the whole Paschal Supper, it was only abso- 
lutely enjoined while partaking of the bread and the wine. 
This recumbent posture so far resembled that still common in 
the East, that the body rested on the feet. Hence, also, the 
penitent woman at the feast given by Simon is said to have 
** stood at His feet, behind," "weeping."^ At the same time, 
the left elbow was placed on the table, and the head rested on 
the hand, sufficient room being of course left between each guest 
for the free movements of the right hand. This explains in 

* The Karaites are alone in not admitting women to the Paschal Supper. 
2 Luke vii. 38. 



202 The Templcy its Ministry and Services. 

what sense John ' 'was leaning on Jesus' bosom," and afterwards 
"lying on Jesus* breast," when he bent back to speak to Him.^ 
The use of wine in the Paschal Supper,^ though not 
mentioned in the Law, was strictly enjoined by tradition. 
According to the Jerusalem Talmud, it was intended to 
express Israel's joy on the Paschal night, and even the poorest 
must have '^ at least four cups, though he were to receive the 
money for it from the poor's box."^ If he cannot otherwise 
obtain it, the Talmud adds, "he must sell or pawn his coat, 
or hire himself out for these four cups of wine." The same 
authority variously accounts for the number four as either 
corresponding to the four words used about Israel's redemp- 
tion (bringing out, delivering, redeeming, taking), or to the 
fourfold mention of the cup in connection with the chief 
butler's dream,* or to the four cups of vengeance which God 
would in the future give the nations to drink,^ while four cups 
of consolation would be handed to Israel, as it is written : 
" The Lord is the portion of my cup ; " ® " My cup runneth 
over ; " ^ "I will take the cup of salvation,*' ® " which," it is 
added, "was two" — perhaps from a second allusion to it in 
verse 17. In connection with this the following parabolic story 
from the Talmud may possess some interest : " The holy and 
blessed God will make a feast for the righteous in the day that 
His mercy shall be shown to the seed of Israel After they 
have eaten and drunk, they give the cup of blessing to Abra- 
ham our father. But he saith : I cannot bless it, because 

1 John xiii. 23, 25. 

2 Every reader of the Bible knows how symbolically significant alike the vine 
od its fruit are throughout Scripture. Over the entrance to the Sanctuary a golden 

vine of immense proportions was suspended, 

3 Pes. X. I. * Gen. xl. 9-15. * Jer. xxv. 15; li. 7; Psa. Ixxv. 8; xi 6. 
• Psa. xvL 5. ' Psa. xxiii. 5. ® Psa. cxvi. 13. 



The Paschal Feast and the LorcTs Supper. 203 

Ishmael came from me. Then he gives it to Isaac. But he 
saith : I cannot bless it, because Esau came from me. Then 
he hands it to Jacob. But he saith : I cannot take it, 
because I married two sisters, which is forbidden in the Law. 
He saith to Moses : Take it and bless it. But he replies : I 
cannot, because I was not counted worthy to come into the 
land of Israel, either alive or dead. He saith to Joshua : 
Take it and bless it. But he answers : I cannot, because I 
have no son. He saith to David : Take it and bless it. And 
he replies : I will bless it, and it is fit for me so to do, as it is 
written, ' I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the 
name of the Lord.' " 

As detailed in the earliest Jewish record of ordinances — the 
Mishnah — the service of the Paschal Supper was exceedingly- 
simple. Indeed, the impression left on the mind is, that, 
while all the observances were fixed, the prayers, with some 
exceptions preserved to us, were free. Rabbi Gamaliel, the 
teacher of St. Paul, said :^ ''Whoever does not explain three 
things in the Passover has not fulfilled the duty incum- 
bent on him. These three things are : the Passover lamb, 
the unleavened bread, and the bitter herbs. The Passover 
lamb means that God passed over the blood-sprinkled place 
on the houses of our fathers in Egypt ; the uiileavened b7'ead 
means that our fathers were delivered out of Egypt (in haste) ; 
and the bitter herbs mean that the Egyptians made bitter the 
lives of our fathers in Egypt." A few additional particulars 
are necessary to enable the reader to understand all the 
arrangements of the Paschal Supper. From the time of the 
evening-sacrifice nothing was to be eaten till the Paschal 
Supper, so that all might come to it with relish. ^ It is a moot 
* Pes. X. 15. '^ Pes,ii.\ 



204 '^^^ Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

point, whether at the time of our Lord two, or, as at present, 
three, large cakes of unleavened bread were used in the service. 
The Mishnah mentions^ these five kinds as falling within 
the designation of '* bitter herbs," viz., lettuce, endive, succory 
(garden endive ?), what is called " Charchavlna '' (tirtica^ beets f), 
and horehound (bitter coriander ?). The " bitter herbs " seem 
to have been twice partaken of during the service, once dipped 
in salt water or vinegar, and a second time with Charoseth, a 
compound of dates, raisins, etc., and vinegar, though the 
Mishnah expressly declares^ that Charoseth was not obli- 
gatory. Red wine alone was to be used at the Paschal 
Supper, and always mixed with water. ^ Each of the four cups 
must contain at least the fourth of a quarter of an hin (the 
hin = one gallon two pints). Lastly, it was a principle that, 
after the Paschal meal, they had no Aphikomen (after-dish), an 
expression which may perhaps best be rendered by " dessert." 
The Paschal Supper itself commenced by the head of '' the 
company" taking the first cup of wine in his hand, and 
*' giving thanks " over it in these words : ** Blessed art Thou, 
Jehovah our God, who hast created the fruit of the vine! 
Blessed art Thou, Jehovah our God, King of the Universe, 
who hast chosen us from among all people, and exalted us 
from among all languages, and sanctified us with Thy com- 
mandments ! And Thou hast given us, O Jehovah our God, in 
love, the solemn days for joy, and the festivals and appointed 
seasons for gladness ; and this the day of the feast of 

^ Pes. ii. 6. * Pes, x. 3. 

3 Of this there cannot be the slightest doubt. Indeed, the following quotation 
from the Mishnah [Pes, vii. 13) might even induce one to believe that warm water 
was mixed with the wine: *'If two companies eat (the Passover) in the same 
liouse, the one turns its face to one side, the other to the other, and the kettle 
(warming kettle) stands between them.'* 



The Paschal Feast and the Lord's Stepper. 205 

unleavened bread, the season of our freedom, a holy convoca- 
tion, the memorial of our departure from Egypt. For us hast 
Thou chosen ; and us hast Thou sanctified from among all 
nations, and Thy holy festivals with joy and with gladness 
hast Thou caused us to inherit. Blessed art Thou, O Jehovah, 
who sanctifiest Israel and the appointed seasons ! Blessed 
art Thou, Jehovah, King of the Universe, who hast preserved 
us alive and sustained us and brought us to this season ! " ^ 

The first cup of wine was then drunk, and each washed his 
hands.* It was evidently at this time that the Saviour in His 
self-humiliation proceeded also to wash the disciples' feet.^ 
Our Authorised Version wrongly translates verse 2 by, '' and 
supper being ended," instead of " and when supper had come," 
or "was begun." Similarly, it was, in all probability, in 
reference to the first cup that Luke gives the following 
account:* "And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and 
said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves " — the " cup 
of blessing," which was the third, and formed part of the new 
institution of the Lord's Supper, being afterwards mentioned 
inverse 20. In washing their hands this customary prayer 
was repeatecf : " Blessed art Thou, Jehovah our God, who hast 
sanctified us with Thy commandments, and hast enjoined us 
concerning the washing of our hands." Two different kinds 
of " washing " were prescribed by tradition — " dipping " and 
** pouring." At the Paschal Supper the hands were to be 
'* dipped " in water. ^ 

1 Such, according to the best criticism, were the words of this prayer at the time 
of Christ. But I must repeat that in regard to many of these prayers I cannot 
help suspecting that they rather indicate the spirit and direction of a prayer than 
embody the ipsissima verba. 

' The modern practice of the Jews slightly differs from the ancient here, and in 
some other little matters of detail. ^ John xiii. 5. * Luke xxii. 17. 

^ The distinction is also interesting as explaining Mark vii. 3. For when water 



2c6 The Temple^ its Mmistry and Services. 

These preliminaries ended, the Paschal table was brougM 
forward. The president of the feast first took some of the 
herbs, dipped them in salt water, ate of them, and gave to 
the others. Immediately after it, all the dishes were removed 
from the table (as it was thought so strange a proceeding would 
tend to excite the more curiosity), and then the second cup 
was filled. A very interesting ceremony now took place. It 
had been enjoined in the law that at each Paschal Supper the 
father was to show his son the import of this festival By way 
of carrying out this duty, the son (or else the youngest) was 
directed at this particular part of the service to make inquiry ; 
and, if the child were too young or incapable, the father would 
do it for him. 

The son asks : ''Why is this night distinguished from all other 
nights ? For on all other nights we eat leavened or unleavened 
bread, but on this night only unleavened bread ? On all 
other nights we eat any kind of herbs, but on this night only 
bitter herbs? On all other nights we eat meat roasted, 
stewed, or boiled, but on this night only roasted } On all 
other nights we dip (the herbs) only once, but on this night 
twice ? " Thus far according to the earliest and most trust- 
worthy tradition. It is added : ^ '^ Then the father instructs 
his child according to the capacity of his knowledge, beginning 
with our disgrace and ending with our glory, and expounding 
to him from, ' A Syrian, ready to perish, was my father,' till he 



was poured on the hands, they had to be lifted, yet so that the water should 
neither run up above the wrist, nor back again upon the hand ; best, therefore, by 
doubling the fingers into a fist. Hence (as Lightfoot rightly remarks) Mark vii. 3, 
which should be translated : *' For the Pharisees .... except they wash their 
hands with the fist, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.*' The rendering 
of our Authorised Version, ** except they wash oft," has evidently no meaning, 
^ Mishnahf Fes, x. 4. 



The Paschal Feast and the Lord's Supper. 207 

Has explained all through, to the end of the whole section."' 
In other words, the head of the house was to relate the whole 
national history, commencing with Terah, Abraham's father, 
and telling of his idolatry, and continuing, in due order, the 
story of Israel up to their deliverance from Egypt and the 
giving of the Law ; and the more fully he explained it all, 
the better. ^ 

This done, the Paschal dishes were brought back on the 
table. The president now took up in succession the dish with 
the Passover lamb, that with the bitter herbs, and that with 
the unleavened bread, and briefly explained the import of 
each ; for, according to Rabbi Gamaliel : ** From generation 
to generation every man is bound to look upon himself not 
otherwise than if he had himself come forth out of Egypt. For 
so it is written,^ * And thou shalt show thy son in that day, 
saying. This is done because of that which Jehovah did unto 
me when I came forth out of Egypt.' Therefore," continues 
the Mishnahy giving the very words of the prayer used, '* we 
are bound to thank, praise, laud, glorify, extol, honour, bless, 
exalt, and reverence Him, because He hath wrought for our 
fathers, and for us all these miracles. He brought us forth 
from bondage into freedom, from sorrow into joy, from mourn- 
ing to a festival, from darkness to a great light, and from 
slavery to redemption. Therefore let us sing before Him : 
Hallelujah ! " Then the first part of the " Hallel " was sung, 
comprising Psalms cxiii. and cxiv., with this brief thanksgiving 
at the close : " Blessed art Thou, Jehovah our God, King of the 
Universe, who hast redeemed us and redeemed our fathers 
from Egypt." Upon this the second cup was drunk. Hands 
were now washed a second time, with the same prayer as 

* Pent. XXVI. 5-1 1. * Ex. xiii. 8. 



2o8 The Temple, its Miiiistry and' Services. 

before, and one of the two unleavened cakes broken and 
"thanks given.'* 

Rabbinical authorities distinctly state that this thanks- 
giving was to follow, not to precede, the breaking of bread, 
because it was the bread of poverty, **and the poor have 
not whole cakes, but broken pieces." The distinction is 
important, as proving that since the Lord in instituting His 
Supper, according to the uniform testimony of the three 
Gospels and of St. Paul,^ first gave thanks and then brake 
the bread (*' having given thanks, He brake it "), it must have 
been at a later period of the service. 

Pieces of the broken cake with ** bitter herbs " between 
them, and '^ dipped " in the Charoseth, were next handed to 
each in the company. This, in all probability, was " the sop " 
which, in answer to John's inquiry about the betrayer, the 
Lord ''gave" to Judas.^ The unleavened bread with bitter 
herbs constituted, in reality, the beginning of the Paschal 
Supper, to which the first part of the service had only served 
as a kind of introduction. But as Judas, after " having received 
the sop, went immediately out," he could not even have par- 
taken of the Paschal lamb, far less of the Lord's Supper. 
The solemn discourses of the Lord recorded by St. John' 
may therefore be regarded as His last " table-talk," and 'the 
intercessory prayer that followed* as His "grace after meat." 

The Paschal Supper itself consisted of the unleavened 
bread with bitter herbs, of the so-called Chagigah, or festive 
offering (when brought), and, lastly, of the Paschal lamb 
itself. After that nothing more was to be eaten, so that the 

1 Matt. xxvi. 26 ; Mark xiv. 22 : Luke xxii. 19 ; I Cor. xi. 24. 

2 John xiii. 25, etc. ; compare Matt. xxvi. 21, etc. ; Mark xiv. 18, etc 
* John xiii. 31 ; xvi. * John "vii. 



The Paschal Feast and the Lord's Supper. 209 

flesh of the Paschal Sacrifice might be the last meat partaken 
of. But since the cessation of the Paschal Sacrifice the Jews 
conclude the Supper with a piece of unleavened cake, which 
they call the Aphikomen^ or after-dish. Then, having again 
washed hands, the third cup is filled, and grace after meat'' 
said.^ Now, it is very remarkable that our Lord seems so far* 
to have anticipated the present Jewish practice that He brake' 
the bread ''when He had given thanks,'' ^ instead of adhering 
to the old injunction of not eating anything after the Passover 
lamb. And yet in so doing He only carried out the spirit of 
the Paschal feast. For, as we have already explained, it was 
commemorative and typical. It commemorated an event 
which pointed to and merged in another event — even the 
offering of the better Lamb, and the better freedom con- 
nected with that sacrifice. Hence, after the night of His 
betrayal, the Paschal lamb could have no further meaning, 
and it was right that the commemorative Aphikomen should 
take its place. The symbolical cord, if the figure may be 
allowed, had stretched to its goal — the offering up of the 
Lamb of God ; and though again continued from that point 
onwards till His second coming, yet it was, in a sense, as from 
a new beginning. 

Immediately afterwards the third cup was drunk, a special 
blessing having been spoken over it. There cannot be any 
reasonable doubt that this was the cup which our Lord con- 
nected with His own Supper. It is called in Jewish writings, 
just as by St. Paul,^ " the cup of blessing," partly because it and 
the first cup required a special " blessing," and partly because 
it followed on the " grace after meat." Indeed, such impor- 
tance attached to it, that the Talmud ^ notes ten peculiarities, 

^ See I Cor. xi 24, and the Gospels. ^ i Qgr. x. 16. ^ Berac, 51, i. 

P 



2IO The Temphy its Ministry and Services. 

too minute indeed for our present consideration, but sufficient 
to show the special value set upon it.^ The service concluded 
with the fourth cup, over which the second portion of the 
" Hallel " was sung, consisting of Psalms cxv., cxvi., cxvii., and 
cxviii., the whole ending with the so-called *' blessing of the 
song," which comprised these two brief prayers : " All Thy 
works shall praise Thee, Jehovah our God. And Thy saints, 
the righteous, who do Thy good pleasure, and all Thy people, 
the house of Israel, with joyous song let them praise, and 
bless, and magnify, and glorify, and exalt, and reverence, 
and sanctify, and ascribe the kingdom to Thy name, oh, our 
King ! For it is good to praise Thee, and pleasure to sing 
praises unto Thy name, for from everlasting to everlasting 
Thou art God." 

" The breath of all that lives shall praise Thy name, 
Jehovah our God. And the spirit of all flesh shall continu- 
ally glorify and exalt Thy memorial, oh, our King ! For 
from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God, and besides 
Thee we have no King, Redeemer, or Saviour," etc.* 

In this manner was the Paschal Supper celebrated by the 
Jews at the time when our Lord for the last time sat down 
to it with His disciples. So important is it to have a clear 
understanding of all that passed on that occasion, that, at 
the risk of some repetition, we shall now attempt to piece 

^ It is a curious circumstance that the Mishnah seems to contemplate the same 
painful case of dmnkenness at the Paschal Supper, which, as we know, actually 
occurred in the church at Corinth, that so closely imitated the Jewish practice. 
The Mishnah does not, indeed, speak in so many words of dnmkenness, but it lays 
down this rule : "Does anyone sleep at the Passover meal and wake again, he may 
not eat again after he is awaked." 

2 Exceptionally a fifth cup was drunk, and over it ** the great Hallel" was said, 
comprising Psalms cxx.-cxxxviL 



The Paschal Feast and the Lord's Stepper. 211 

together the notices in the various Gospels, adding to them 
again those explanations which have just been given in 
detail. At the outset we may dismiss, as unworthy of 
serious discussion, the theory, either that our Lord ' had 
observed the Paschal Supper at another than the regular 
time for it, or that St. John meant to intimate that He 
had partaken of it on the 13th instead of the 14th of Nisan.^ 
To such violent hypotheses, which are wholly uncalled for^ 
there is this one conclusive answer, that, except on the 
evening of the 14th of Nisan, no Paschal lamb could have 
been offered in the Temple, and therefore no Paschal Supper 
celebrated in Jerusalem. But abiding by the simple text of 
Scripture, we have the following narrative of events : — Early 
on the forenoon of the 14th of Nisan, the Lord Jesus having 
sent Peter and John before Him '* to prepare the Passover," 
" in the evening He cometh with the twelve " ^ to the " guest- 
chamber," the 'Marge upper room furnished " ^ for the Supper, 
although He seems to have intended ''after Supper" to spend 
the night outside the city. Hence Judas and the band from 
the chief priests do not seek for Him where He had eaten the 
Passover, but go at once to " the garden into which He had 
entered, and His disciples ; " for Judas " knew the place," * and 
it was one to which "Jesus ofttimes resorted with His dis- 
ciples." " When the hour was come " for the commbncement 
of the Paschal Supper, Jesus " sat down, and the twelve 
apostles with Him," all, as usual at the feast, "leaning,"^ 
John on "Jesus' bosom," being placed next before Him, and 
Judas apparently next behind, while Simon Peter faced John, 

1 For the evidence that the *' Lord's Supper *' took place on the Paschal night, 
see the Appendix. 
• Mark xiv. 17. ^ Luke xxii. 1 1, 12. * John xviii. I, 2. ^ John xiii. 23 



t 



212 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

and was thus able to *' beckon unto him" when he wished 
inquiry to be made of the Lord. The disciples being thus 
ranged, the Lord Jesus *' took the cup and gave thanks, and 
said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves." ^ This was 
the first cup, over which the first prayer in the service was 
spoken. Next, as in duty bound, all washed their hands, 
only that the Lord here also gave meaning to the observ- 
ance, when, expanding the service into Christian fellowship 
over His broken body. He "riseth from Supper" ''and began 
to wash the disciples' feet." ^ It is thus we explain how this 
ministry, though calling forth Peter's resistance to the posi- 
tion which the Master took, did not evoke any question as to 
its singularity. As the service proceeded, the Lord mingled 
teaching for the present with the customary lessons of the 
past ; ^ for, as we have seen, considerable freedom was 
allowed, provided the instruction, proper at the feast, were 
given. The first part of the " Hallel " had been sung, and in 
due order He had taken the "bread of poverty" and the 
'* bitter herbs," commemorative of the sorrow and the bitter- 
ness of Egypt, when " He was troubled in spirit " about 
" the root of bitterness " about to spring up among, and to 
"trouble" them, by which "many would be defiled." The 
general concern of the disciples as to which of their number 
should betray Him, found expression in the gesture of Peter. 
His friend John understood its meaning, and " lying back on 
Jesus' breast," he put the whispered question, to which the 
Lord replied by giving " the sop " of unleavened bread with 
bitter herbs, "when He had dipped " it, to Judas Iscariot. 

"And after the sop Satan entered into him," and he "went 
out immediately." It was an unusual time to leave the Pas- 

* Luke xxii. ly. " John xiii. 4, 5. ^ John xiii. 12-20. 



The Paschal Feast and the Lord's Supper. 213 

chal table, for with "the sop dipped" into the "Charoseth" 
the Paschal Supper itself had only just begun. But then '' some 
of them thought" — perhaps without fully considering it in 
their excitement — that Judas, who "had the bag," and on whom, 
therefore, the care of such things devolved, had only gone to 
see after "those things that they had need of against the 
feast," or to "give something to the poor" — applying some of 
the common stock of money in helping to provide " peace- 
offerings" for the poor. This would have been quite in 
accordance with the spirit of the ordinance, while neither sup- 
position necessarily involved a breach of the law, since it was 
permitted to prepare all needful provision for the feast, and of 
course also for the Sabbath, which in this instance followed it. 
For, as we have seen, the festive observance of the isth of 
Nisan differed in this from the ordinary Sabbath-law, although 
there is evidence that even the latter was at that time by no 
means so strict as later Jewish tradition has made it. And 
then it was, after the regular Paschal meal, that the Lord 
instituted His own Supper, for the tirst time using the Aphu 
komen " when He had given thanks " (after meat), to symbolise 
His body, and the third cup, or "cup of blessing which we 
bless "^ — being "the cup after supper"^ — to symbolise His 
blood. "And when they had sung an hymn"^ "they went 
out into the mount of Olives."* 

Then it was that the Lord's great heaviness and loneli- 
ness came upon Him ; when all around seemed to give 
way, as if crushed under the terrible burden about to be 
lifted ; when His disciples could not watch with Him even 
one hour ; when in the agony of His soul " His sweat was as 
it were great drops of blood, falling down to the ground;* 
* I Cor. X. 16. * Luke xxii. 20. ^ Psalms cxv.-cxviiL * Matt. xxvi. 3a 



214 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

and when He " prayed, saying : O my Father, if it be pos- 
sible, let this cup pass from Me : nevertheless not as I will, 
but as Thou wilt." But " the cup which the Father " had 
given Him, He drank to the bitter dregs; and "when He 
had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying 
and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, 
and was heard in that He feared ; though He were a Son, 
yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered ; 
and being made perfect. He became the author of eternal 
salvation unto all them that obey Him."^ 

Thus the " Lamb without blemish and without spot, who 
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world "* 
— and, indeed, "slain from the foundation of the world "^ — 
was selected, ready, willing, and waiting. It only remained, 
that it should be actually offered up as " the propitiation 
for our sins : and not for ours only, but also for the whole 
world."* 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE FEAST OF UNLEAVENED BREAD AND THE DAY OF 
PENTECOST. 

*• And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one acaord 
in one place." — Acts ii. I. 

THE "feast of unleavened bread," which commenced in 
the Paschal night itself and lasted for seven days, 
derived its name from the Mazzoth, or unleavened cakes, 
which were the only bread allowed during that week. This 
is called in Scripture " the bread of affliction,"^ as is commonly 
supposed, because its insipid and disagreeable taste symbolised 
the hardship and affliction of Egypt. But this explanation 
must be erroneous. It would convert one of the most joyous 
festivals into an annual season of mourning. The idea intended 
to be conveyed by the Scriptural term is quite different. For, 
just as we should ever remember the death of our Saviour in 
connection with His resurrection, so were Israel always to 
remember their bondage in connection with their deliverance. 
Besides, the bread of the Paschal night was not that of 
affliction because it was unleavened ; it was unleavened 
because it had been that of affliction. For it had been 
Israel's "affliction," and a mark of their bondage and sub- 
jection to the Egyptians, to be driven forth in such " haste " * 
as not even to have time for leavening their bread. Hence also 
* Deut xvi, 3. 2 Deut. xvi. 3 ; Ex. xii. 33, 39. 



2i6 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

the prophet, when predicting another and far more glorious 
deliverance, represents Israel, in contrast to the past, as too 
holy to seek enrichment by the possessions, and as too secure 
to be driven forth in haste by the fear of those who had held 
them captives : 

** Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, — touch no unclean thing ; 
Go ye out of the midst of her ; be ye clean that bear the vessels of Jehovah. 
For ye shall not go out with haste, — nor go by flight : 
For Jehovah will go before you ; and the God of Israel will be your rereward." ^ 

The Passover, therefore, was not so much the remem- 
brance of Israel's bondage as .of Israel's deliverance from 
that bondage, and the bread which had originally been that 
of affliction, because that of haste, now became, as it were, 
the bread of a new state of existence. None of Egypt's 
leaven was to pervade it ; nay, all the old leaven, which served 
as the symbol of corruption and of death, was to be wholly 
banished from their homes. They were to be " a new lump,'* 
as they were '* unleavened."^ Thus what had originally been 
the necessity of one day, became the ordinance of a feast, 
bearing the sacred number of seven days. As the cross 
has become to us the tree of life ; as death hath been 
abolished by death, and captivity been led captive by the 
voluntary servitude^ of the Lord of glory, so to Israel the 
badge of former affliction became the symbol of a new and 
joyous life, in which they were to devote themselves and 
all that they had unto the Lord. 

The same truth is fully symbolised in the sacrifices of 
this Feast, and especially in the presentation of the first 
ripe sheaf on the second day of the Passover. The first 
day of "unleavened bread," or the 15th of Nisan, was a 
"holy convocation," when neither servile nor needless work 
» Isa. Hi. II, 12. * I Cor. v. 7, ^ Psa. xl. 6, 7, 



Feast of Unleavened Bread and Day of Pentecost. 217 

was to be done, that only being allowed which was necessary 
for the. joyous observance of the festival. After the regular 
morning sacrifice the public offerings were brought. These 
consisted, on each of the seven days of the festive week, 
of two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs for a burnt- 
offering, with their appropriate meat-offerings; and of "one 
goat for a sin-offering, to make an atonement for you." ^ 
After these public sacrifices (for the whole congregation), the 
private offerings of each individual were brought, commonly 
on the first day of the Feast (the 15 th of Nisan), but if this 
had been neglected, on any of the other days. These sacri- 
fices were a burnt-offering, of the value of at least one meah 
of silver^ (= \ denar, or about 2id.); then, the 15th day 
Chagigah^ (literally, festivity), of the value of at least two 
meahs of silver (=Sd.) ; and, lastly, the so-called "sacrifices 
of joyousness,"*in which every one was left at liberty to offer, 
according to "the blessing which the Lord had given'' to 
each.^ Both the Chagigah and the " offerings of joyousness" 
were " peace-offerings." They required imposition of hands,^ 
sprinkling of blood, burning of the inside fat and kidneys 
on the altar, and the proper setting aside of what went to 
the priest, viz., the breast as a wave- and the right shoulder 
as a heave-offering;^ the difference, as we have seen, being, 

1 Numb, xxviii. 19-24. 

• In this, as in many other particulars, the teaching of Shammai differed from 
that of Hillel. We have followed Hillel, whose authority is generally recognised. 

2 It is strange that the differences between the Chagigah of the 14th and that of 
the 15th Nisan should have been so entirely overlooked in Kitto's CycL iii. 428, 
They are well pointed out in Relandus' Antiq., pp. 404, 405. See also the very full 
rtatements of Saalschiitz, Mos, Recht^ pp. 414, 415. 

* Deut. xxvii. 7. * Deut. xvi. 17. 

® On this subject also Shammai and Hillel differed. See on the whole Mishnak^ 
Chag. i. and iL ' Lev. ill 1-5 ; vii. 29-34. 



5i8 The Templcy its Ministry and Services. 

that the wave-offering belonged originally to Jehovah, who 
gave His portion to the priests, while the heave-offering 
came to them directly from the people. The rest was used 
by the offerers in their festive meals (but only during two 
days and one night from the time of sacrifice). Tradition 
allowed the poor, who might have many to share at their 
board, to spend even less than one meah on their burnt- 
offerings, if they added what had been saved to their peace- 
offerings. Things devoted to God, such as tithes, firstlings, 
etc., might be used for this purpose, and it was even lawful 
for priests to offer what had come to them as priestly dues.^ 
In short, it was not to be a heavy yoke of bondage, but a 
joyous festival. But on one point the law was quite explicit 
— the Chagigah might not be offered by any person who 
had contracted Levitical defilement.^ It was on this ground 
that, when the Jews led "Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall 
of judgment," they themselves went not into the judgment- 
hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might " eat 
the Passover."^ And this brings us once more to the historj 
of the last real Passover. 

"It was early" on the 15th day of Nisan when the Lord 
was delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. In the pre- 
vious night He and His disciples had partaken of the Paschal 
Supper. The betrayer alone was too busy with his plans to 
finish the meal. He had, so to speak, separated from the 
fellowship of Israel before he excommunicated himself from 
that of Christ. While the Paschal services in the " guest- 
chamber" were prolonged by the teaching and the interces- 
sion of the Master, and when the concluding rites of that 

* Mishnakf Chag, i. 3, 4. * Fes, vi. 3. 

* John xviii. 28. 



Feast of Unleavened Bread and Day of Pentecost. 219 

night merged in the institution of the Lord's Supper, Judas 
was completing, with the chief priests and elders, the betrayal 
of Jesus, and received the '* reward of iniquity." ^ Either the 
impetuosity of the traitor, or, more probably, the thought 
that such an opportunity might never come to them again, 
decided the elders, who, till then, had intended to delay the 
capture of Jesus till after the Feast, for " fear of the multi- 
tude." It was necessary to put aside, not only considerations 
of truth and of conscience, but to violate almost every fun- 
damental principle of their own judicial administration. In 
such a cause, however, the end would sanctify any means. 

Some of their number hastily gathered the Temple guard 
under its captains. A detachment of Roman soldiers under 
an officer^ would readily be granted from the neighbouring 
fortress, Antonia, when the avowed object was to secure a 
dangerous leader of rebellion and to prevent the possibility 
of a popular tumult in his favour. A number of trusty 
fanatics from the populace accompanied " the band.'* They 
were all armed with clubs and swords, " as against a mur- 
derer ; " and though the dazzling light of a full moon shone 
on the scene, they carried torches and lamps, in case He or 
His followers should hide in the recesses of the garden or 
escape observation. But far other than they had expected 
awaited them in "the garden." He whom they had come 
to take prisoner by violent means first overcame, and then 
willingly surrendered to them, only stipulating for the free- 

* Acts i. 18. 

2 We derive our account from all the four Gospels. The langiiage of St. John 
(xviii. 3, 12) leaves no doubt that a detachment of Roman soldiers accompanied 
such of the elders and priests as went out with the Temple guard to take Jesus. 
There was no need to apply for Pilate's permission (as Lange supposes) before 
securing the aid of the soldiers. 



220 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

dom of His followers. They led Him back into the city, to 
the Palace of the High Priest, on the slope of Mount Zion, 
almost opposite to the Temple. What passed there need not 
be further described, except to say, that, in their treatment of 
Jesus, the Sanhedrim violated not only the law of God, but 
grossly outraged every ordinance of their own traditions.^ 
Possibly the consciousness of this, almost as much as political 
motives, may have influenced them in handing over the 
matter to Pilate. The mere fact that they possessed not the 
power of capital punishment would scarcely have restrained 
them from killing Jesus, as they afterwards stoned Stephen, 
and would have murdered Paul but for the intervention of 
the Roman garrison from Fort Antonia. On the other hand, 
if it was, at the same time, their object to secure a public con- 
demnation and execution, and to awaken the susceptibilities of 
the civil power against the movement which Christ had initiated, 
it was necessary to carry the case to Pilate. And so in that 
grey morning light of the first day of unleavened bread the 
saddest and strangest scene in Jewish history was enacted. 
The chief priests and elders, and the most fanatical of the 
people were gathered in Fort Antonia. From where they 
stood outside the Prsetorium they would, in all probability, 
have a full view of the Temple buildings, just below the 
rocky fort ; they could see the morning sacrifice off*ered, and 
the column of sacrificial smoke and of incense rise from the 
great altar towards heaven. At any rate, even if they had 
not seen the multitude that thronged the sacred buildings, 
they could hear the Levites' song and the blasts of the 
priests' trumpets. And now the ordinary morning service 

» We cannot here enter on the evidence; the fact is generally admitted, even by 
Jewish writers. 



Feast of Unleavened Bread and Day of Pentecost. 221 

was over, and the festive sacrifices were offered. It only 
remained to bring the private burnt-offerings, and to sacrifice 
the Chagigah/ which they must offer undefiled, if they were 
to bring it at all, or to share in the festive meal that would 
afterwards ensue. And so the strangest contradiction was 
enacted. They who had not hesitated to break every law 
of God's and of their own making, would not enter the 
Praetorium, lest they should be defiled and prevented from 
the Chagigah ! Surely, the logic of inconsistency could go 
no further in punctiliously observing the letter and violating 
the spirit of the law. 

That same afternoon of the first Passover day, " when the 
sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land 
until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with 
a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani ? which 
is, being interpreted. My God, my God, why hast Thou for- 
saken Me .^ . . . . And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and 
gave up the ghost. And the veil of the Temple was rent in 
twain, from the top to the bottom." This, just about the 
time when the evening sacrifice had been offered, so that 
the incensing priest standing in the Holy Place must have 
witnessed the awful sight.^ 

A little later on in the evening of that same day, just as it was 
growing dark, a noisy throng followed delegates from the San- 
hedrim outside the city and across the brook Kedron. It was 

* The evidence that the expression in John xviii. 28, **They went not into the 
judgment -hall .... that they might eat the Passover," refers not to the Paschal 
lamb, but to the Chagigah, is exceedingly strong, in fact, such as to have even 
convinced an emment but impartial Jewish writer (Saalschlitz, Mos. Recht, p. 414). 
It does seem strange that it should be either unknown to, or ignored by, '* Chris- 
tian " writers. 

* This would not necessarily disclose a view of the Most Holy Place if, as the 
Rabbis assert, there were twc veils between the Holy and the Most Holy Place. 



22 2 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

a very different procession, and for a very different purpose, 
from the small band of mourners which, just about the same 
time, carried the body of the dead Saviour from the cross 
to the rock-hewn tomb wherein no man had yet been laid. 
While the one turned into " the garden,"^ perhaps to one side, 
the other emerged, amidst loud demonstrations, in a field 
across Kedron, which had been marked out for the purpose. 
They were to be engaged in a service most important to 
them. It was probably to this circumstance that Joseph of 
Arimathea owed their non-interference with his request for 
the body of Jesus, and Nicodemus and the women, that they 
could go undisturbed about the last sad offices of loving 
mourners. The law had it, *'Ye shall bring a sheaf [liter- 
ally the omer] of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the 
priest ; and he shall wave the omer before Jehovah, to be 
accepted for you : on the morrow after the Sabbath the priest 
shall wave it." ^ This Passover-sheaf, or rather omer, was to 
be accompanied by a burnt-offering of a '' he lamb, without 
blemish, of the first year," with its appropriate meat- and 
drink-offering, and after it had been brought, but not till 
then, fresh barley might be used and sold in the land. Now, 
this Passover-sheaf was reaped in public the evening before 
it was offered, and it was to witness this ceremony that the 
crowd gathered around '* the elders," who took care that all 
was done according to traditionary ordinance. 

The expression, " the morrow after the Sabbath,"^ has 
sometimes been misunderstood as implying that the presenta- 
tion of the so-called " first sheaf " was to be always made on 
the day following the weekly Sabbath of the Passover-week. 
This view, adopted by the " Boethusians" and the Sadducees 

* John XX. 15. « Lev. xxiii. 10, il. • Lev. xxiii. ii. 



Feast of Unleavened Bread and Day of Pentecost, 223 

in the time of Christ, and by the Karaite Jews and certain 
modern interpreters, rests on a misinterpretation of the word 
" Sabbath/'^ As in analogous allusions to other feasts in the 
same chapter, it means not the weekly Sabbath, but the day 
of the festival. The testimony of Josephus,^ of Philo,^ and 
of Jewish tradition, leaves no room to doubt that in this 
instance we are to understand by the " Sabbath " the 15th of 
Nisan, on whatever day of the week it giight fall. Already, 
on the 14th of Nisan, the spot whence the first sheaf was to 
be reaped had been marked out by delegates from the San- 
hedrim, by tying together in bundles, while still standing, 
the barley that was to be cut down. Though, for obvious 
reasons, it was customary to choose for this purpose the shel- 
tered Ashes-valley across Kedron, there was no restriction on 
that point, provided the barley had grown in an ordinary 
field — of course in Palestine itself— and not in garden or 
orchard land, and that the soil had not been manured nor 
yet artificially watered.* When the time for cutting the sheaf 
had arrived, that is, on the evening of the 15th of Nisan 
(even though it were a Sabbath^), just as the sun went down, 
three men, each with a sickle and basket, formally set to 
work. But in order clearly to bring out all that was dis- 
tinctive in the ceremony, they first asked of the bystanders 
three times each of these questions: "Has the sun gone 
down.?" "With this sickle.?" "Into this basket.?" "On 
this Sabbath (or first Passover-day) ?" — and, lastly, "Shall I 

^ Lev. xxiii. 24, 32, 39. * Antiq. iii. 10, 5, 6. ^ Qp^ jj 294. 

* Mishnah, Menach, viii. i, 2. The field was to be ploughed in the autumn, 
and sowed seventy days before the Passover. 

^ There was a controversy on this point between the Pharisees and the Saddu- 
cees. The article in Kitto's Cya, erroneously names the afternoon of the i6tli of 
Nisan as mat on which the sheaf was cut. It was really done after sunset on the 
15th, which was the beginning of the i6th of Nisan. 



224 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

reap ?" Having each time been answered in the affirmative, 
they cut down barley to the amount of one ephah, or ten 
omers, or three seahs, which is equal to about three pecks and 
three pints of our English measure. The ears were brought 
into the Court of the Temple, and thrashed out with canes or 
stalks, so as not to injure the corn ; then ** parched " on a pan 
perforated with holes, so that each grain might be touched by 
the fire, and finally exposed to the wind. The corn thus pre- 
pared was ground in a barley-mill, which left the hulls whole. 
According to some, the flour was always successively passed 
through thirteen sieves, each closer than the other. The 
statement of a rival authority, however, seems more rational 
— that it was only done till the flour was sufficiently fine,^ 
which was ascertained by one of the " Gizbarim *' (treasurers) 
plunging his hands into it, the sifting process being continued 
so long as any of the flour adhered to the hands.^ Though one 
ephah, or ten omers, of barley was cut down, only one omer of 
flour, or about 5*1 pints of our measure, was offered in the 
Temple on the second Paschal, or i6th day of Nisan. The rest 
of the flour might be redeemed, and used for any purpose. 
The omer of flour was mixed with a ** log," or very nearly 
three-fourths of a pint of oil, and a handful ^ of frankincense 
put upon it, then waved before the Lord, and a handful taken 
out and burned on the altar. The remainder belonged to the 
priest. This was what is popularly, though not very correctly, 
called " the presentation of the first or wave-sheaf" on the 
second day of the Passover- feast, or the 1 6th of Nisan. 

Thus far the two first days. The last day of the Passover, 
as the first, was a ** holy convocation," and observed like a 

* Men, vi. 6, 7. * Men, viii. 2. 

^ The term is difficult to define. The Mishnah {Men, ii. 2) says, ** He stretcheth 
the tingers over the flat of the hand," I suppose, bending them inwards. 



Feast of Unleavened Bread and Day of Pentecost, 225 

Sabbath. The intervening days were " minor festivals," or 
Moed Katon. The Mishnah (Tract. Moed Katori) lays down 
precise rules as to the kind of work allowed on such days. 
As a general principle, all that was necessary either for the 
public interest or to prevent private loss was allowed ; but no 
new work of any kind for private or public purposes might 
be begun. Thus you might irrigate dry soil, or repair works 
for irrigation, but not make new ones, nor dig canals, etc.^ 
It only remains to add, that any one prevented by Levitical 
defilement, disability, or distance from keeping the regular 
Passover, might obsen/e what was called "the second," or 
** the little Passover," exactly a month later.^ The Mishzak 
has it^ that the second differed from the first Passover in this 
— that leaven might be kept in the house along with the un- 
leavened bread, that the Hallel was not sung at the Paschal 
Supper, and that no Chagigah was offered. 

The '^ feast of unleavened bread " may be said not to have 
quite passed till fifty days after its commencement, when it 
merged in that of Pentecost, or '' of Weeks." According to 
unanimous Jewish tradition, which was universally received at 
the time of Christ, the day of Pentecost was the anniversary of 
the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, which the Feast of Weeks 
was intended to commemorate. Thus, as the dedication of the 
harvest, commencing with the presentation of the first omer on 
the Passover, was completed in the thank-offering of the two 
wave-loaves at Pentecost, so the memorial of Israel's deliverance 

* The assertion (Kitto's Cyd. iii. p. 429), that on these days ** the iessei 
* Hallel 'was recited, and not the great * Hallel,'" is incorrect. Indeed, it is 
inconsistent with the account of the '* Hallel," given by the same writer in another 
part of the Cyd, The great '* Hallel " was never on ordinary occasions recited 
in the Temple at all, and "the lesser (?) Hallel " certainly not during '^Mr 
Katon" of the Passover week. * Numb, ix, 9-12, ^ Fes. ix. 

Q 



226 The Temple, its Mi/iisfry and Service Sr> 

appropriately terminated in that of the giving of the law — just 
as, making the highest application of it, the Passover sacrifice 
of the Lord Jesus may be said to have been completed in the 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.^ Jewish 
tradition has it, that on the 2nd of the third month, or Sivan, 
Moses had ascended the Mount,^ that he communicated with 
the people on the 3rd,^ reascended the Mount on the 4th,^ and 
that then the people sanctified themselves on the 4th, 5th, and 
6th of Sivan, on which latter day the ten commandments were 
actually given them.^ Accordingly the days before Pentecost 
were always reckoned as the first, second, third, etc., since the 
presentation of the omer. Thus Maimonides beautifully 
observes : " Just as one who is expecting the most faithful of 
his friends is wont to count the days and hours to his arrival, 
so we also count from the omer of the day of our Exodus 
from Egypt to that of the giving of the law, which was the 
object of our Exodus, as it is said : * I bare you on eagle's 
wings, and brought you unto myself/ And because this great 
manifestation did not last more than one day, therefore we 
annually commemorate it only one day."^ 

Full seven weeks after the Paschal day, counting from the 
presentation of the omer on the i6th of Nisan, or exactly 
on the fiftieth day,^ was the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, " a 
holy convocation,'' in which ** no servile work " was to be done,^ 
when "all males" were to "appear before Jehovah" in His 
sanctuary,^ and the appointed sacrifices and offerings to be 

* Acts il * Ex. xix. 1-3. ^ Ex. xix. 7. * Ex. xix. 8. 

^ Ex. xix. 10-16. 0\\ I to the peculiarity of the Jewish calendar, Pentecost 
did not always take place exactly on the 6th Sivan. Care was taken that it shouLl 
not occur on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday. (Reland., p. 430.) 

^ More Neb, quoted in Kitto's Cycl. iii. p. 468. ''' Lev. xxiii. 15, 1 5 

• Lev. xxiii. 21 ; Numb, xxviii. 26. • Ex. xxiii. 14-17. 



Feast of Unleavened Bread and Day of Pentecost. 227 

brought. The names, " Feast of Weeks "^ and '* Feast of the 
Fiftieth Day," or " Day of Pentecost,"^ bear reference to this 
interval from the Passover. Its character is expressed by the 
terms *' feast of harvest *'^ and " day of firstfruits,"* while Jewish 
tradition designates it as *' Chag ha Azereth,'* or simply 
" Azereth " (the " feast of the conclusion," or simply *' con- 
clusion "), and the " Season of the giving of our Law." 

The festive sacrifices for the day of Pentecost were, accord- 
ing to Numb, xxviii. 26-31, "two young bullocks, one ram, 
and seven lambs of the first year " for a burnt-offering, along 
with their appropriate meat-offerings ; and " one kid of the 
goats " for a sin-offering — all these, of course, irrespective of 
the usual morning sacrifice. But what gave to the feast its 
distinctive peculiarity was the presentation of the two loaves, 
and the sacrifices which accompanied them. Though the 
attendance of worshippers at the Temple may not have been 
so large as at the Passover, yet tens of thousands crowded to 
it.^ From the narrative in Acts ii. we also infer that perhaps, 
more than at any of the other great festivals, Jews from distant 
countries came to Jerusalem, possibly from the greater facili- 
ties for travelling which the season afforded. On the day 
before Pentecost the pilgrim bands entered the Holy City, 
which just then lay in the full glory of early summer. Most 
of the harvest all over the country had already been reaped,® 
and a period of rest and enjoyment seemed before them. As 
the stars shone out in the deep blue sky with the brilliancy 
peculiar to an eastern clime, the blasts of the priests' trumpets, 

^ Ex. xxxiv. 22; Deut. xvi. lo, i6; 2 Chron. viii. 13. 

• Jos. Jrd), Wars, ii. 3, I ; Acts ii. I ; xx. 16 ; i Cor. xvi. 8. 

* Ex. xxiii. 16. * Numb, xxviii. 26. ^ Jos. Antiq. xiv. 13, 4; xvii. 10, 2. 
^ The completion of the wheat harvest throughout the land is computed by the 

Rabbis at about a month later. See Relandus, Antiq., p. 428, 



228 The Te77tple, its Minis tiy and Services. 

announcing the commencement of the feast, sounded from the 
Temple mount through the delicious stillness of the summer 
night. Already in the first watch the great altar was cleansed, 
and immediately after midnight the Temple gates were thrown 
open. For before the morning sacrifice all burnt- and peace- 
offerings which the people proposed to bring at the feast 
had to be examined by the officiating priesthood. Great as 
their number was, it must have been a busy time, till the 
announcement that the morning glow extended to Hebron 
put an end to all such preparations, by giving the signal for 
the regular morning sacrifice. After that the festive offerings 
prescribed in Numb, xxviii. 26-30 were brought — first, the 
sin-offering, with proper imposition of hands, confession of 
sin, and sprinkling of blood; and similarly the burnt-offerings, 
with their meat-off*erings. The Levites were now chanting the 
** Hallel " to the accompanying music of a single flute, which 
began and ended the song, so as to give it a sort of soft 
sweetness. The round, ringing treble of selected voices 
from the children of Levites, who stood below their fathers, 
gave richness and melody to the hymn, while the people 
either repeated or responded, as on the evening of the 
Passover sacrifice. Then came the peculiar offering of the 
day — that of the two wave-loaves, with their accompanying 
sacrifices. These consisted of seven lambs of the first year, 
without blemish, one young bullock, and two rams for a burnt- 
offering, with their appropriate meat-offerings ; and then '* one 
kid of the goats for a sin-offering, and two lambs of the first 
year for a sacrifice of peace-ofiferings." ^ As the omer for the 

^ Lev. xxiii. 19. This offering, accompanying the wave-loaves, has by some 
been confounded with the festive sacrifices of the day, as enumerated in Numh. 
xxviii. 27. But the two are manifestly quite distinct. 



Feast of Unleavened Bread and Day of Pentecost. 229 

i6th of Nisan was of barley, being the first ripe corn in the 
land, so the ** two wave-loaves " were prepared from wheat 
grown in the best district of the country — under conditions 
similar to those already noticed about the Passover-sheaf. 
Similarly, three seahs, or about three pecks and three pints of 
wheat, were cut down, brought to the Temple, thrashed like 
other meat-offerings, ground, and passed through twelve 
sieves/ From the flour thus obtained two omers (or double 
the quantity of that at the Passover) were used for *' the two 
loaves ; '* the rest might be redeemed and used for any 
purpose. Care was taken that the flour for each loaf should 
be taken separately from one and a half seah, that it should 
be separately kneaded with lukewarm water (like all thank- 
offerings), and separately baked — the latter in the Temple 
itself The loaves were made the evening preceding the 
festival ; or, if that fell on the Sabbath, two evenings before. 
In shape they were long and flat, and turned up, either at the 
edges or at the corners. According to the Mishnahy each 
loaf was four hand-breadths wide, seven long, and four fingers 
high, and, as it contained one omer of flour (5*1 pints, or 
rather less than four pounds' weight), the dough would weigh 
about five pounds and three-quarters, yielding, say, five 
pounds and a quarter of bread, or ten and a half for the two 
** wave-loaves." ^ 

Contrary to the common rule of the Sanctuary, these loaves 
were leavened, which, as the Mishnah informs us,^ was the 

* In the case of the first omer it had been thirteen sieves ; but both specifications 
may be regarded as Rabbinical fancifulness. 

« These numbers are sufiBciently accurate for general computation. By actual 
experiment I find that a pint of flour weighs about three-quarters of a pound and 
two ounces, and that 3 J lbs. of flour, with half a teacup of barm and an ounce of 
salt, yield 5I pounds of dough and 5 J lbs. of bread. ' Men, v. I. 



230 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

case in all thank-offerings. The common explanation — that 
the wave-loaves were leavened because they represented the 
ordinary food of the people — only partially accounts for this. 
No doubt these wave-loaves expressed the Old Testament 
acknowledgment of the truth which our Lord embodied in the 
prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." But this is 
not all. Let it be remembered that these two loaves, with 
the two lambs that formed part of the same wave-offering, 
were the only public peace- and thank-offerings of Israel ; that 
they were accompanied by burnt- and sin-offerings ; and that, 
unlike ordinary peace-offerings, they were considered as " most 
holy." Hence they were leavened, because Israel's public 
thank-offerings, even the most holy, are leavened by imper- 
fectness and sin, and they need a sin-offering. This idea of a 
public thank-offering was further borne out by all the services 
of the day. First, the two lambs were " waved " while yet alive ; 
that is, before being made ready for use. Then, after their 
sacrifice, the breast and shoulder, or principal parts of each, 
were laid beside the two loaves, and " waved " (generally 
towards the east) forwards and backwards, and up and down.^ 
After burning the fat, the flesh belonged, not to the offerers, 
but to the priests. As in the case of the most holy sacrifices, 
the sacrificial meal was to take place within the Temple itself, 
nor was any part of it to be kept beyond midnight. One of the 
wave-loaves and of the lambs went to the high-priest ; the 
other belonged to all the officiating priesthood. Lastly, after 
the ceremony of the wave-loaves, the people brought their own 
freewill-offerings, each as the Lord had prospered him — the 

^ The Rabbinical statement is, that the whole offering was to be waved together 
by a priest ; but that if each loaf, with one breast and shoulder of lamb, was waved 
separately, it was valid. From the weight of the mass, this must have been the 
common practice. 



Feast of Unleavened Bread and Day of Pentecost. 231 

afternoon and evening being spent in the festive meal, to 
which the stranger, the poor, and the Levite were bidden as 
the Lord's welcome guests. On account of the number of 
such sacrifices, the Feast of Weeks was generally protracted 
for the greater part of a week ; and this the more readily that 
the offering of first-fruits also began at this time. Lastly, as 
the bringing of the omer at the Passover marked the period 
when new corn might be used in the land, so the presentation 
of the wave-loaves that when new flour might be brought for 
meat-offerings in the Sanctuary. 

If Jewish tradition connected the " feast of first-fruits *' with 
the *' Mount that might be touched," and the '* voice of words 
which they that heard entreated that the word should not be 
spoken to them any more," we have in this respect also *'come 
unto Mount Zion," and to the better things of the New 
Covenant. To us the Day of Pentecost is, indeed, the " feast 
of first-fruits," and that of the giving of the better law, ''written 
not in tables of stone, but on the fleshy tables of the heart,'* 
^* with the Spirit of the living God." For, as the worshippers 
were in the Temple, probably just as they were offering the 
wave-lambs and the wave-bread, the multitude heard that 
''sound from heaven, as of a mighty rushing wind," which 
drew them to the house where the apostles were gathered, 
there to hear " every man in his own language " " the wonder- 
ful works of God." And on that' Pentecost day, from the 
harvest of first-fruits, not less than three thousand souls added 
to the Church were presented as a wave-offering to the Lord. 
The cloven tongues of fire and the apostolic gifts of that day 
of first-fruits have, indeed, long since disappeared. But the 
mighty rushing sound of the Presence and Power of the Holy 
Ghost has gone forth into all the world. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 

*' In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any 
man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." — John vii. 37. 

THE most joyous of all festive seasons in Israel was that 
of the " Feast of Tabernacles." It fell on a time of 
year when the hearts of the people would naturally be full of 
thankfulness, gladness, and expectancy. All the crops had 
been long stored ; and now all fruits were also gathered, the 
vintage past, and the land only awaited the softening and 
refreshment of the " latter rain," to prepare it for a new crop. 
It was appropriate that, when the commencement of the har- 
vest had been consecrated by offering the first ripe sheaf of 
barley, and the full ingathering of the corn by the two wave- 
loaves, there should now be a harvest feast of thankfulness and 
of gladness unto the Lord. But that was not all. As they 
looked around on the goodly land, the fruits of which had just 
enriched them, they must have remembered that by miracu- 
lous interposition the Lord their God had brought them to 
this land and given it them, and that He ever claimed it as 
peculiarly His own. For the land was strictly connected 
with the history of the people ; and both the land and the 
history were linked with the mission of Israel. If the begin- 



The Feast of Tabei^nacles. 233 

ningof the harvest had pointed back to the birth of Israel in 
their Exodus from Egypt, and forward to the true Passover- 
sacrifice in the future ; if the corn-harvest was connected with 
the giving of the law on Mount Sinai in the past, and the out- 
pouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost ; the 
harvest-thanksgiving of the Feast of Tabernacles reminded 
Israel, on the one hand, of their dwelling in booths in the 
wilderness, while, on the other hand, it pointed to the final 
Jiarvest when Israel's mission should be completed, and all 
nations gathered unto the Lord. Thus the first of the three 
great annual feasts spoke, in the presentation of the first sheaf, 
of the founding of the Church ; the second of its harvesting, 
when the Church in its present state should be presented as 
two leavened wave-loaves ; while the third pointed forward to 
the full harvest in the end, when ''in this mountain shall the 

Lord of Hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things 

And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering 
cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. 
He will swallow up death in victory ; and the Lord God will 
wipe away tears from off all faces ; and the rebuke of His 
people (Israel) shall He take away from all the earth." ^ 

That these are not ideal cornparisons, but the very design of 
the Feast of Tabernacles, appears not only from the language 
of the prophets and the pecuhar services of the feast, but also 
from its position in the Calendar, and even from the names by 
which it is designated in Scripture. Thus in its reference to 
the harvest it is called ''the feast of ingathering ;"2 in that to 
the history of Israel in the past, " the Feast of Tabernacles ;"^ 

* Isa. XXV. 6-8 ; comp. Rev. xxi. 4, etc ^ gx. xxiii. 16 ; xxxiv. 22. 

3 Lev. xxiii. 34; and specially ver, 43; Deut. xvi. 13, 16; xxxi. 10 ^ 
2 Chron. viii. 13 ; Ezra iii. 4. 



234 ^^^ Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

while its symbolical bearing on the future is brought out in 
its designation as emphatically *'the feast;" ^ and "the Feast 
of Jehovah." 2 In this sense also Josephus, Philo, and the 
Rabbis (in many passages of the Misknah) single it out from 
all the other feasts. And quite decisive on the point is the 
description of the "latter-day" glory at the close of the 
prophecies of Zechariah, where the conversion of all nations 
is distinctly connected with the " Feast of Tabernacles."^ 
That this reference is by no means isolated will appear in the 
sequel. 

The " Feast of Tabernacles " was the third of the great 
annual festivals, at which every male in Israel was to appear 
before the Lord in the place which He should choose. It fell 
on the 15 th of the seventh month, or Tishri (corresponding to 
September or the beginning of October), as the Passover had 
fallen on the iSth of the first month. The significance of these 
numbers in themselves and relatively will not escape attention, 
the more so that this feast closed the original festive calendar ; 
for Purim and " the feast of the dedication of the Temple," 
w^hich both occurred later in the season, were of post-Mosaic 
origin. The " Feast of Tabernacles," or, rather (as it should 
be called), of " booths," lasted for seven days — from the 15th 
to the 2 1st Tishri — and was followed by an Octave on the 
22nd Tishri. But this eighth day, though closely connected 
with the Feast of Tabernacles, formed no part of that feast, 
as clearly shown by the difference in the sacrifices and the 
ritual, and by the circumstance that the people no longer 
lived in " booths." The first day of the feast, and also its 
Octave, or Azereth (clausura^ conclusio), were to be days of 

* I Kings viii. 2 ; 2 Chroii. v. 3 ; vii. 8, 9. ^ So, literally, in Lev. xxiiL 39, 
3 Zech. xiv. 16-21. 



The Feast of Tabernacles. 235 

** holy convocation/'^ and each " a Sabbath/'^ not in the sense of 
the weekly Sabbath, but of festive rest in the Lord/ when no 
servile work of any kind might be done. 

There is yet another important point to be noticed. The 
"Feast of Tabernacles" followed closely on the "Day of 
Atonement.*' Both took place in the seventh month ; the one 
on the loth, the other on the 15th of Tishri. What the seventh 
day, or Sabbath, was in reference to the week, the seventh 
month seems to have been in reference to the year. It closed 
not only the sacred cycle, but also the agricultural or work- 
ing year. It also marked the change of seasons, the approach 
of rain and of the winter equinox, and determined alike the 
commencement and the close of a sabbatical year.* Coming on 
the isth of this seventh month — that is, at full moon, when 
the "sacred" month had, so to speak, attained its full strength 
— the Feast of Tabernacles appropriately followed five days 
after the Day of Atonement, in which the sin of Israel had 
been removed, and its covenant relation to God restored. 
Thus a sanctified nation could keep a holy feast of harvest 
joy unto the Lord, just as in the truest sense it will be " in 
that day " * when the meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles 
shall be really fulfilled.^ 

Three things specially marked the "Feast of Taber- 
nacles : " its joyous festivities, the dwelling in " booths," and the 
peculiar sacrifices and rites of the week. The first of these 
was simply characteristic of a " feast of ingathering : " " Be- 

1 Lev. xxiii. 35, 36. ^ Lev. xxiii. 39. ^ Lev. xxiii. 25, 32. 

* Deut. xxxi. 10. ' Zech. xiv. 20. 

* Quite another picture is dra\vn in Hos. ix., which seems also to refer to the 
Feast of Tabernacles (see specially verse 5). Indeed, it is remarkable how many 
allusions to this feast occur in the writings of the prophets, as if its types were 
the goal of all their desires. 



236 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

cause the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, 
and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely 
rejoice — thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man- 
servant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and 
the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.' Nor 
were any in Israel to '* appear before the Lord empty : every 
man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the 
Lord thy God which He hath given thee."^ Votive, freewill, 
and peace-ofiferings would mark their gratitude to God, and at 
the meal which ensued the poor, the stranger, the Levite, and 
the homeless would be welcome guests, for the Lord's sake. 
Moreover, when the people saw the Treasury chests opened 
and emptied at this feast for the last time in the year, they 
would remember their brethren at a distance, in whose name, 
as well as their own, the daily and festive sacrifices were 
offered. Thus their liberality would not only be stimulated, 
but all Israel, however widely dispersed, would feel itself 
anew one before the Lord their God and in the courts of His 
House. There was, besides, something about this feast which 
would peculiarly remind them, if not of their dispersion, yet 
of their being " strangers and pilgrims in the earth." For its 
second characteristic was, that during the seven days of its 
continuance '*all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths; 
that your generations may know that I made tlie: children of 
Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the 
land of Egypt."' 

As usual, we are met at the outset by a controversy 
between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The law had it:* 
** Ye shall take you on the first day the fruit* of goodly trees, 

* Deut. xvi. 13-17. ^ Lev. xxiii. 42, 43. * Lev. xxiii ^o. 

* So correctly in the margin. 



The Feast of Tabernacles. 237 

branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and 
willows of the brook," which the Sadducees understood (as do 
the modern Karaite Jews) to refer to the materials whence 
the booths were to be constructed, while the Pharisees applied 
It to what the worshippers were to carry in their hands. The 
latter interpretation is, in all likelihood, the correct one ; it 
seems borne out by the account of the festival at the time 
of Nehemiah,^ when the booths were constructed of branches 
of other trees than those mentioned in Leviticus xxiii. ; and 
it was universally adopted in practice at the time of Christ. 
The Mishnah gives most minute details as to the height and 
construction of these " booths," the main object being to 
prevent any invasion of the law. Thus it must be a real booth, 
and constructed of boughs of living trees, and solely for the 
purposes of this festival. Hence it must be high enough, yet 
not too high — at least ten hand-breadths, but not more than 
thirty feet ; three of its walls must be of boughs ; it must be 
fairly covered with boughs, yet not so shaded as not to admit 
sunshine, nor yet so open as to have not sufficient shade, the 
object in each case being neither sunshine nor shade, but that 
it should be a real booth of boughs of trees. It is needless to 
enter into further details, except to say that these booths, and 
not their houses, w^ere to be the regular dwelling of all in Israel 
during the week, and that, except in very hea\y rain, they 
were to eat, sleep, pray, study — in short, entirely to live in 
them. The only exceptions were in favour of those absent on 
some pious duty, the sick, and their attendants,^ women, slaves^ 
and infants who were still depending on their mothers.' 
Finally, the rule was that, " whatever might contract Leviti- 
cal defilement (such as boards, cloth, etc.), or whatever did 

* Nehemiah \iii. 15, iS, * Sui:c. ii. 4. ^ Sticc. ii. 8. 



238 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services 

not grow out of the earth, might not be used '* in constructing 
the " booths." ' 

It has already been noticed that, according to the view uni- 
versally prevalent at the time of Christ, the direction on the 
first day of the feast to " take the fruit of goodly trees, 
branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and 
willows of the brook," was applied to what the w^orshippers 
were to carry in their hands. The Rabbis ruled, that " the 
fruit of the goodly trees " meant the cethrog, or citron, and 
^* the boughs of thick trees " the myrtle, provided it had ** not 
more berries than leaves." The cethrogs must be without ble- 
mish or deficiency of any kind ; the palm branches at least 
three hand-breadths high, and fit to be shaken ; and each 
branch fresh, entire, unpolluted, and not taken from any idola- 
trous grove. Every worshipper carried the cetlirog in his left 
hand, and in his right the lulav^ or palm, with myrtle and 
willow branch on either side of it, tied together on the outside 
with its own kind, though in the inside it might be fastened 
even with gold thread.^ There can be no doubt that the liilav 
was intended to remind Israel of the different stages of their 
wilderness journey, as represented by the different vegetation 
— the palm branches recalling the valleys and plains, the 
*' boughs of thick trees," the bushes on the mountain heights, and 
the willows those brooks from which God had given His people 
drink ;^ while the cethrog "wdiS to remind them of the fruits of 
the good land which the Lord had given them. The lulav 
was used in the Temple on each of the seven festive days, 
even children, if they were able to shake it, being bound to 
carry one. If the first day of the feast fell on a Sabbath, the 

* Succ. i. 4. 2 ^^^^^ jii^ g^ 

• See the Art. by Pressel in Herzog's Real.-EncycL vol. viiL 



The Feast of Tabernacles, 239 

people brought their lulavs on the previous day into the syna- 
gogue on the Temple Mount, and fetched them in the morning, 
so as not needlessly to break the Sabbath rest. 

The third characteristic of the Feast of Tabernacles was 
its offerings. These were altogether peculiar. The sin- 
offering for each of the seven days was " one kid of the 
goats." The burnt-offerings consisted of bullocks, rams, and 
lambs, with their appropriate meat- and drink-offerings. But, 
whereas the number of the rams and lambs rem-xined the 
same on each day of the festival, that of the bullocks de- 
creased every day by one — from thirteen on the first to seven 
bullocks on the last day, " that great day of the feast." As 
no special injunctions are given about the drink-offering, we 
infer that it was, as usually,^ -^ of a hin of wine for each lamb, 
\ for each ram, and 4- for each bullock (the hin = i gallon 
2 pints). The " meat-offering " is expressly fixed - at -'^ of an 
ephah of flour, mixed with ^ of a hin of oil, for each lamb ; 
-^ of an ephah, with \ hin of oil, for each ram ; and -^ of an 
ephah, with \ hin of oil, for each bullock. Three things are 
remarkable about these burnt-offerings. First, they are 
evidently the characteristic sacrifice of the Feast of Taber- 
nacles. As compared with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, 
the number of the rams and lambs is double, while that of the 
bullocks is fivefold (14 during the Passover week, 5 x 14 
during that of Tabernacles). Secondly, the number of the 
burnt-sacrifices, whether taking each kind by itself or all 
of them together, is always divisible by the sacred number 
seven. We have for the week 70 bullocks, 14 rams, and 
98 lambs, or altogether 182 sacrifices (26 x 7), to which must 
be added 336 (48 x 7) tenths of ephahs of flour for the meat- 

-•• Numb. XV. i-io. * Numb. xxix. 12, etc. 



240 The Temple, its Ministry and Services*. 

offering. We will not pursue the tempting subject of this 
symbolism of numbers further than to point out that, whereas 
the sacred number 7 appeared at the Feast of Unleavened 
Bread only in the number of its days, and at Pentecost in the 
period of its observance {7 X^ 7 days after Passover), the 
Feast of Tabernacles lasted seven days, took place when the 
seventh month was at its full height, and had the number 7 
impressed on its characteristic sacrifices. It is not so easy to 
account for the third peculiarity of these sacrifices — that of 
the daily diminution in the number of bullocks offered. The 
common explanation, that it was intended to indicate the 
decreasing sanctity of each successive day of the feast, while 
the sacred number 7 was still to be reserved for the last day, 
is not more satisfactory than the view propounded in the 
Talmud, that these sacrifices were offered, not for Israel, but 
for the nations of the world : *' There were seventy bullocks, 
to correspond to the number of the seventy nations in the 
world." But did the Rabbis understand the prophetic cha- 
racter of this feast } An attentive tonsideration of its peculiar 
ceremonial will convince that it must have been exceedingly 
difficult to ignore it entirely. 

On the day before the Feast of Tabernacles — the 14th 
Tishri — the festive pilgrims had all arrived in Jerusalem. 
The *^ booths" on the roofs, in the courtyards, in streets and 
squares, as well as roads and gardens, within a Sabbath day's 
journey, must have given the city and neighbourhood an . 
unusually picturesque; appearance. The preparation of all that 
was needed for the festival — purification, the care of the 
offerings that each would bring, and friendly communications 
between those who were to be invited to the sacrificial meal — 
no doubt sufficiently occupied their time. When the early 



The Feast of Tabernacles. 241 

autumn evening set in, the blasts of the priests' trumpets on 
the Temple Mount announced to Israel the advent of the feast. 
As at the Passover and at Pentecost, the altar of burnt- 
offering was cleansed during the first night-watch, and the gates 
of the Temple were thrown open immediately after midnight. 
The time till the beginning of the ordinary morning sacrifice 
was occupied in examining the various sacrifices and offerings 
that were to be brought during the day. While the morning 
sacrifice was being prepared, a priest, accompanied by a joyous 
procession with music, went down to the Pool of Siloam, whence 
he drew water into a golden pitcher, capable of holding three 
log (rather more than two pints). But on the Sabbaths they 
fetched the water from a golden vessel in the Tempe 
itself, into which it had been carried from Siloam on the 
preceding day. At the same time that the procession started 
for Siloam, another went to a place in the Kedron valley, 
close by, called Motza, whence they brought willow branches, 
which, amidst the blasts of the priests' trumpets, they stuck 
on either side of the altar of burnt-offering, bending them over 
towards it, so as to form a kind of leafy canopy. Then the 
ordinary sacrifice proceeded, the priest who had gone to 
Siloam so timing it, that he returned just as his brethren 
carried up the pieces of the sacrifice to lay them on the altar. 
As he entered by the " Water-gate," which obtained its name 
from this ceremony, he was received by a threefold blast from 
the priests' trumpets. The priest then went up the rise of the 
altar and turned to the left, where there were two silver basins 
with narrow holes — the eastern a little wider for the wine, and 
the western somewhat narrower for the water. Into these the 
wine of the drink-offering was poured, and at the same time 
the water from Siloam, the people shouting to the priest, 

R 



242 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

" Raise thy hand/' to show that he really poured the water 
into the basin which led to the base of the altar. For, shar- 
ing the objections of the Sadducees, Alexander Jannaeus, the 
Maccabean king-priest (about 95 B.C.), had shown his contempt 
for the Pharisees by pouring the water at this feast upon the 
ground, on which the people pelted him with Xki€\x(Bthrogs, and 
would have murdered him, .if his foreign body-guard had not 
interfered, on which occasion no less than six thousand Jews 
were killed in the Temple. 

As soon as the wine and the water were being poured out, the 
Temple music began, and the ** Hallel " ^ was sung in the man- 
ner previously prescribed, and to the accompaniment of flutes, 
except on the Sabbath and on the first day of the feast, when 
flute-playing was not allowed, on account of the sanctity of 
the days. When the choir came to these words,^ " O give 
thanks to the Lord," and again when they sang,' " O work 
then now salvation, Jehovah;" and once more at the close,* 
"O give thanks unto the Lord," all the worshippers shook 
their lulavs towards the altar. When, therefore, the multitudes 
from Jerusalem, on meeting Jesus, " cut down branches from 
the trees, and strewed them in the way, and .... cried, say- 
ing, O then, work now salvation to the Son of David ! "^ they 
applied, in reference to Christ, what was regarded as one of 
the chief ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles, praying 
that God would now from " the highest " heavens manifest 
and send that salvation in connection with the Son of David, 
which was symbolised by the pouring out of water. For 
though that ceremony was considered by the Rabbis as bear- 
ing a subordinate reference to the dispensation of the rain, the 

* Psa. cxiii.-cxviii. * Psa. cxviii. i. ^ Psa. cxviii. 25, 

* Psa. cxviii. 29. • Matt. xxi. 8, 9 ; John xii. 12, 13. 



The Feast of Tabernacles. 243 

annual fall of which they imagined was determined by God at 
that feast, its main and real application was to the future out- 
pouring of the Holy Spirit, as predicted — probably in allusion 
to this very rite — by Isaiah the prophet.^ Thus the Talmud 
says distinctly : " Why is the name of it called, The drawing 
out of water ? Because of the pouring out of the Holy 
Spirit, according to what is said : ' With joy shall ye draw 
water out of the wells of salvation.* ** Hence, also, the feast 
and the peculiar joyousness of it are alike designated as those 
of " the drawing out of water ; " for, according to the same 
Rabbinical authorities, the Holy Spirit dwells in man only 
through joy. 

A similar symbolism was expressed by another cere- 
mony which took place at the close, not of the daily, but 
of the festive sacrifices. On every one of the seven days 
the priests formed in procession, and made the circuit of 
the altar, singing : " O then, now work salvation, Jehovah ! 
O Jehovah, give prosperity ! " ^ But on the seventh, " that 
great day of the feast," they made the circuit of the altar 
seven times, remembering how the walls of Jericho had fallen 
in similar circumstances, and anticipating how, by the direct 
interposition of God, the walls of heathenism would fall before 
Jehovah, and the land lie open for His people to go in and 
possess it. 

We can now in some measure realise the event recorded in 

^ Isaiah xii. 3. Of course, one or other of these two views is open, either, that 
the words of Isaiah were based on the ceremony of water- pouring, or that this cere- 
mony was derived from the words of Isaiah. In either case, however, our inference 
from it holds good. It is only fair to add, that by some the expression ** water " in 
Isa. xii. 3, is applied to the * * law. " But this in no way vitiates our conclusion, as 
the Jews expected the general conversion of the Gentiles to be a conversion to 
Judaism. 

* Psa. cxviii. 25 » ^* 



244 T"^^ Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

John vii. 37. The festivities of the Week of Tabernacles 
were drawing to a close. " It was the last day, that great day 
of the feast." It obtained this name, although it was not one 
of " holy convocation,'* partly because it closea the feast, and 
partly from the circumstances which procured it in Rabbinical 
writings the designations of " Day of the Great Hosannah," on 
account of the sevenfold circuit of the altar with " Hosannah ;" 
and ** Day of Willows," and '' Day of Beating the Branches," 
because all the leaves were shaken off the willow boughs, 
and the palm branches beaten in pieces by the side of the 
rltar. It was on that day, after the priest had returned from 
Siloam with his golden pitcher, and for the last time poured 
its contents to the base of the altar ; after the " Hallel " had 
been sung to the sound of the flute, the people responding and 
worshipping as the priests three times drew the threefold 
blasts from their silver trumpets — just when the interest of 
the people had been raised to its highest pitch, that, from 
amidst the mass of worshippers, who were waving towards 
the altar quite a forest of leafy branches as the last words of 
Psa. cxviii. were chanted — a voice was raised which resounded 
through the Temple, startled the multitude, and carried fear 
and hatred to the hearts of their leaders. It was Jesus, who 
** stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come 
unto Me, and drink.'^ Then by faith in Him should each one 
truly become like the Pool of Siloam, and from his inmost 
being '* rivers of living waters flow." ^ *' This spake He of 
the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive." 
Thus the significance of the rite, in which they had just taken 
part, was not only fully explained, but the mode of its fulfilment 
pointed out. The eff"ect was instantaneous. It could not but 

* John vii. 38. 



The Feast of Tabernacles. 245 

be, that in that vast assembly, so suddenly roused by being 
brought face to face with Him in whom every type and pro- 
phecy is fulfilled, there would be many who, " v/hen they heard 
this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, 
This is the Christ." Even the Temple-guard, whose duty it 
would have been in such circumstances to arrest one who had 
so interrupted the services of the day, and presented himself 
to the people in such a light, owned the spell of His words, and 
dared not to lay hands on Him. ** Never man spake like this 
man," was the only account they could give of their unusual 
weakness, in answer to the reproaches of the chief priests and 
Pharisees. The rebuke of the Jewish authorities, which followed, 
is too characteristic to require comment. One only of their 
number had been deeply moved by the scene just witnessei 
in the Temple. Yet, timid as usually, Nicodemus only laid 
hold of this one point, that the Pharisees had traced the popular 
confession of Jesus to their ignorance of the law, to which he 
replied, in the genuine Rabbinical manner of arguing, without 
meeting one's opponent face to face: "Doth our law judge 
any man before it hear him, and know what he doeth } " 

But matters were not to end with the wrangling of priests 
and Pharisees. The proof which Nicodemus had invited them 
to seek from the teaching and the miracles of Christ was about 
to be displayed both before the people and their rulers in the 
healing of the blind man. Here also it was in allusion to the 
ceremonial of the Feast of Tabernacles that Jesus, when He saw 
the " man blind from his birth,'* said: ''As long as I am in the 
world, I am the light of the world ; " having " anointed the eyes 
of the blind man with the clay," just as He told him, " Go, 
wash in the Pool of Siloam (which is, by interpretation, Sent)." 

, * John ix. 5. 



246 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

For the words, " I am the Hght of the world," are the same 
which He had just spoken in the Temple,^ and they had in all 
probability been intended to point to another very peculiar 
ceremony which took place at the Feast of Tabernacles. In 
the words of the Mishnah^" the order of the services for that 
feast was as follows : " They went first to offer the daily 
sacrifice in the morning, then the additional sacrifices ; after 
that the votive and freewill-offerings ; from thence to the 
festive meal ; from thence to the study of the law ; and after 
that to offer the evening sacrifice; and from thence they went to 
the joy of the pouring out of the water." It is this *' joy of the 
pouring out of the water" which we are about to describe. 

At the close of the first day of the feast the worshippers 
descended to the Court of the Women, where great preparations 
had been made. Four golden candelabras were there, each with 
four golden bowls, and against them rested four ladders ; and 
four youths of priestly descent held, each a pitcher of oil, capable 
of holding one hundred and twenty log, from which they filled 
each bowl. The old, worn breeches and girdles of the priests 
served for wicks to these lamps. There was not a court in 
Jerusalem that was not lit up by the light of "the house of 
water-pouring." The ** Chassidim " and ** the men of Deed *' 
danced before the people with flaming torches in their hands, 
and sang before them hymns and songs of praise ; and the 
Levites, with harps, and lutes, and cymbals, and trumpets, and 
instruments of music without number, stood upon the fifteen 
steps which led doww from the Court of Israel to that of the 
Women, according to the number of the fifteen Songs of 
Degrees in the Book of Psalms. They stood with their instru- 
ments of music, and sang hymns. Two priests, with trumpets 

* John viii. 12. * Suuah v, 2, 3, 4. 



The Feast of Tabernacles. 247 

in their hands, were at the upper gate (that of Nicanor), which 
led from the Court of Israel to that of the women. At cock- 
crowing they drew a threefold blast. As they reached the tenth 
step, they drew another threefold blast; as they entered the 
court itself, they drew yet another threefold blast ; and so they 
blew as they advanced, till they reached the gate which opens 
upon the east (the Beautiful Gate). As they came to the eastern 
gate, they turned round towards the west (to face the Holy 
Place), and said : ** Our fathers who were in this place, they 
turned their back upon the Sanctuary of Jehovah, and their 
faces toward the east, and they worshipped towards the rising 
sun ; but as for us, our eyes are towards the Lord.'* 

A fragment of one of the hymns sung that night has been 
preserved. It was sung by the " Chassidim '* and " men of 
Deed," and by those who did penance in their old age for the 
, sins of their youth : 

The Chassidim and Men of Deed* 
** Oh joy, that our youth, devoted, sage, 
Doth bring no shame upon our old age I" 

The Penitents, 
•* Oh joy, we can in our old age 
Repair the sins of youth not sage ! ** 

Both in unison, 
•• Yes, happy he on whom no early guilt doth rest, 
And he who, having sinned, is now with pardon blest* 

It seems clear that this illumination of the Temple was 
regarded as forming part of, and having the same symbolical 
meaning as, " the pouring out of water." The light shining 
out of the Temple into the darkness around, and lighting up 
every court in Jerusalem, must have been intended as a symbol 
not only of the Shechinah which once filled the Temple, but 
of that '* great light " which " the people that walked in dark- 



248 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

ness " were to see, and which was to shine " upon them that 
dwell in the land of the shadow of death." ^ May it not be, that 
such prophecies as Isaiah ix. and Ix. were connected with this 
symbolism ? At any rate, it seems most probable that Jesus 
had referred to this ceremony in the words spoken by Him in 
the Temple at that very Feast of Tabernacles : " I am the 
light of the world; he that foUoweth Me shall not walk in 
darkness, but shall have the light of life/'^ 

Only the first of the seven days of this feast was *' a holy 
convocation ; ** the other six were " minor festivals." On 
each day, besides the ordinary morning and evening sacri- 
fices, the festive offerings prescribed in Numbers xxix. 
12-38 were brought. The Psalms sung at the drink- 
offering after the festive sacrifices (or Musaphy as they are 
called), were, for the first day of the feast. Psalm cv. ; for 
the second, Psalm xxix. ; for the third. Psalm 1., from ver. 
16; for the fourth. Psalm xciv., from ver. 16; for the fifth, 
Psalm xciv., from ver. 8 ; for the sixth. Psalm Ixxxi., from 
ver. 6 ; for the last day of the feast, Psalm Ixxxii., from 
ver. 5. As the people retired from the altar at the close 
of each day^s service, they exclaimed, "How beautiful art 
thou, O altar ! " — or, according to a later version, " We give 
thanks to Jehovah and to thee, O altar!" All the four-and- 
twenty orders of the priesthood were engaged in the festive 
offerings, which were apportioned among them according to 
definite rules, which also fixed how the priestly dues were to 
be divided among them. Lastly, on every sabbatical year 
the law was to be publicly read on the first day of the feast.^ 

On the afternoon of the seventh day of the feast the 

^ Isa. ix. 2. ^ John viii. 12. 

* Deut. xxxi. 10-13. In later times only certain portions were read, the law 
as a whole being sufficiently known from the weekly prelections in the synagogue^ 



^4 The Feast of Tabernacles. 249 

people began to remove from the ** booths/* For at the 
Octave, on the 22nd of Tishri, they lived no longer in booths, 
nor did they use the lidav. But it was observed as " a holy 
convocation ;" and the festive sacrifices prescribed in Num- 
bers xxix. 36-38 were offered, although no more by all the 
twenty-four courses of priests, and finally the " Hallel " sung 
at the drink-offering. 

It will have been observ^ed that the two most important 
ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles — the pouring out 
of water and the illumination of the Temple — were of post- 
Mosaic origin. According to Jewish tradition, the pillar of 
cloud by day and of fire by night had first appeared to Israel 
on the 15 th of Tishri, the first day of the feast. On that 
day also Moses was said to have come down from the Mount, 
and announced to the people that the Tabernacle of God 
was to be reared among them. We know that the dedica- 
tion of Solomon's Temple and the descent of the Shechinah 
took place at this feast.^ Nor can we greatly err in finding 
an allusion to it in this description of heavenly things -.^ 
"After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no 
man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, 
and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, 
clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands ; and 
cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which 
sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.'** 

Whether or not our suggestions be adopted as to the 
typical meaning of the two great ceremonies of the " pouring 
out of the water " and the Temple illu-mination, the fact 
remains, that the Feast of Tabernacles is the one only type 
in the Old Testament which has not yet been fulfilled. 

* I Kings viii. ; 2 Chron. vii. * ^ Rev. vii. 9, 10. 



CHAPTER XV. 

THE NEW MOONS : THE FEAST OF THE SEVENTH NEW MOON, 
OR OF TRUMPETS, OR NEW YEAR'S DAY. 

*'Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy 
day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath : which are a shadow of things 
to come; but the body is of Christ.'' — Col. ii. i6, 17. 

SCARCELY any other festive season could have left so con- 
tinuous an impress on the religious life of Israel as the 
** New Moons." Recurring at the beginning of every month, 
and marking it, the solemn proclamation of the day, by— 
" It is sanctified," was intended to give a hallowed character 
to each month, while the blowing of the priests* trumpets and 
the special sacrifices brought, would summon, as it were, the 
Lord's host to offer their tribute unto their exalted King, 
and thus bring themselves into *' remembrance " before Him. 
Besides, it was also a popular feast, when families, like that of 
David, might celebrate their special annual sacrifice;* when the 
king gave a state-banquet f and those who sought for instruc- 
tion and edification resorted to religious meetings, such as 
Elisha seems to have held.^ And so we trace its observance 
onwards through the history of Israel ; marking in Scripture a 

1 I Sam. XX. 6, 29. 2 j g^m. xx. 5, 24. * 2 Kings iv. 23. 



The New Moons. 251 

special Psalm for the New Moon (in Tishri) ; ^ noting how 
from month to month the day was kept as an outward ordi- 
nance, even in the decay of religious life,'^ apparently all the 
more rigidly, with abstinence from work, not enjoined in the 
law, that its spirit was no longer understood ;^ and finally 
learning from the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel that it 
also had a higher meaning, and was destined to find a better 
fulfilment in another dispensation, when the New Moon trumpet 
should summon '* all flesh to worship before Jehovah,''* and the 
closed eastern gate to the inner court of the new Temple be 
opened once more to believing Israel.^ And in New Testa- 
ment times we still find the *' New Moon " kept as an outv/ard 
observance by Jews and Judaising Christians, yet expressly 
characterised as " a shadow of things to come ; but the body 
is of Christ." 

We have already shown of what importance the right 
determination of the new moon was in fixing the various 
festivals of the year, and with what care and anxiety its 
appearance was ascertained from witnesses who had actually 
seen it ; also how the tidings were afterwards communicated 
to those at a distance. For the new moon was reckoned by 
actual personal observation, not by astronomical calculation, 
with which, however, as we know, many of the Rabbis must 
have been familiar, since we read of astronomical pictures, 
by which they were wont to test the veracity of witnesses. 
So important was it deemed to have faithful witnesses, that 
they were even allowed, in order to reach Jerusalem in time, 
to travel on the Sabbath, and, if necessary, to make use, of 

• Psa. Ixxxi. 3. * Isa. i. 13 ; Hos. ii. II, 

• Amos viii. 5, * I^ Ixvi. 23. 

• Ezek. xlvL i. • Col. ii. 16, 17. 



252 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

horse or mule.^ While strict rules determined who were not 
to be admitted as witnesses,^ every encouragement was given 
to trustworthy persons, and the Sanhedrim provided for them 
a banquet in a large building specially destined for that 
purpose, and known as the Beth Yaazek,^ In the law of 
God only these two things are enjoined in the observance 
of the *^New Moon," — the *' blowing of trumpets"* and 
special festive sacrifices.*'^ Of old the ** blowing of trumpets" 
had been the signal for IsfaeFs host on their march through 
the wilderness, as it afterwards summoned them to warfare, 
and proclaimed or marked days of public rejoicing, and 
feasts, as well as the *' beginnings of their months."® The 
object of it is expressly stated to have been " for a memorial," 
that they might " be remembered before Jehovah," it being 
specially added : ** I am Jehovah your God." It was, so to 
speak, the host of God assembled, waiting for their leader ; 
the people of God united to proclaim their King. At the 
blast of the priests' trumpets they ranged themselves, as it 
were, under His banner and before His throne, and this 
symbolical confession and proclamation of Him as "Jehovah 
their God," brought them before Him to be " remembered " 
and *' saved." And so every season of " blowing the trum- 
pets," whether at New Moons, at the Feast of Trumpets or 
New Year's Day, at other festivals, in the Sabbatical and 
Year of Jubilee, or in the time of war, was a public acknow* 
ledgment of Jehovah as King. Accordingly we find the 
same symbols adopted in the figurative language of the 
New Testament. As of old the sound of the trumpet sum- 
moned the congregation before the Lord at the door of the 

* Mish, Rosh ha Sh. i. 9 ; iii. 2. ^ u,s, i. 8. ^ u^s, ii. 5. 

* Numb. X. 10. * Numb, xxviii. 11-15. ^ Numb. x. i-io. 



The New Moons. 253 

Tabernacle, so " His elect " shall be summoned by the sound 
of the trumpet in the day of Christ's coming/ and not 
only the living, but those also who had " slept "^ — **the dead 
in Christ."^ Similarly the heavenly hosts are marshalled to 
the war of successive judgments,* till, as " the seventh angel 
sounded," Christ is proclaimed King universal : '* The king- 
doms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, 
and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever."^ 

Besides the *' blowing of trumpets," certain festive sacri- 
fices were ordered to be offered on the New Moon.^ These 
most appropriately mark "the beginnings of months."^ For 
it is a universal principle in the Old Testament, that " the 
first" always stands for the whole — the firstfruits for the 
whole harvest, the firstborn and the firstlings for all the rest ; 
and that " if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy." 
And so the burnt-offerings and the sin-offering at '^ the 
beginning" of each month consecrated the whole. These 
festive sacrifices consisted of two young bullocks, one ram, 
and seven lambs of the first year for a burnt-offering, with 
their appropriate meat- and drink-offerings, and also of " one 
kid of the goats for a sin-offering unto Jehovah."^ 

When we pass from these simple Scriptural directions to 

^ Matt. xxiv. 31. * I Cor. xv, 52. ^ I Thess. iv. 16. * Rev. viii. 2 ; x. 7. 

* Rev. xi. 15. ^ Numb. xxviiL I1-15. "^ Numb, xxviii. ii. 

s There is a curious and somewhat blasphemous Haggadak, or story, in the 
Talmud on this subject It appears that at first the sun and moon had been created 
of equal size, but that when the moon wished to be sole * ' ruler " to the exclusion 
of the sun, her jealousy was punished by diminution. In reply to her arguments 
and importunity, God had then tried to comfort the moon, that the three righteous 
men, Jacob, Salnuel, and David, were likewise to be small — and when even thus the 
moon had the better of the reasoning, God had directed that a '* sin-offering " 
should be brought on the new moon, because He had made the moon smaller and 
less important than the sun ! 



254 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

what tradition records of the actual observance of " New 
Moons" in the Temple, our difficulties increase. For this 
and New Year's Day are just such feasts, in connection with 
which superstition would most readily grow up, from the 
notions which the Rabbis had, that at changes of seasons 
Divine judgments were initiated, modified, or finally fixed. 

Modern critics have not been sufficiently careful in distin- 
guishing what had been done in the Temple from what was 
introduced into the synagogue, gradually and at much later 
periods. Thus, prayers which date long after the destruction 
of Jerusalem have been represented as offered in the Temple, 
and the custom of chanting the ** Hallel " ^ on New Moons in 
the synagogue has been erroneously traced to Biblical times.^ 
So far as we can gather, the following was the order of 
service on New Moon's Day. The Council sat from early 
morning to just before the evening sacrifice, to determine 
the appearance of the new moon. The proclamation of the 
Council — " It is sanctified ! " — and not the actual appearance 
of the new moon, determined the commencement of the feast. 
Immediately afterwards, the priests blew the trumpets which 
marked the feast. After the ordinary morning sacrifice, the 
prescribed festive offerings were brought, the blood of the 
burnt-offerings being thrown round the base of the altar 
below the red line, and the rest poured out into the channel 
at the south side of the altar ; while the blood of the sin- 
offering was sprinkled or dropped from the finger on the 

1 Psa. cxiii.-cxviii. 

• This even by Buxtorf, in his Lex, Rabb., and also by Dr. Ginsburg in Kitto's 
Cycl.f vol. iii. In general, articles on the **New Moon" and " New Year," not- 
withstanding their ability, do not display sufficient critical discernment on the 
part of their author. That the ** Hallel " was not sung in the Temple on New 
Moons is shown by Jost., Gesch, d. Judenth.^ i. 184. 



The New Moons. 255 

horns of the altar of burnt-offering, beginning from the 
east, the rest being poured out, as that of the burnt-offerings. 
The two bullocks of the burnt-offerings were hung up and 
flayed on the uppermost of the three rows of hooks in the 
court, the rams on the middle, and the lambs on the lowest 
hooks. In all no less than 107 priests officiated at this 
burnt-offering — 20 with every bullock, ii with every ram, 
and 8 with every lamb, including, of course, those who 
carried the appropriate meat- and drink-offerings. At the 
offering of these sacrifices the trumpets were again blown. 
All of them were slain at the north side of the altar, while 
the peace- and freewill-offerings, which private Israelites were 
wont at such seasons to bring, were sacrificed at the south 
side. The flesh of the sin-offering and what of the meat- 
offering came to them, was eaten by the priests in the Temple 
itself ; their portion of the private thank-offerings might be 
taken by them to their homes in Jerusalem, and there eaten 
with their households. 

If any special prayers were said in the Temple on New 
Moons' Days, tradition has not preserved them, the only 
formula dating from that period being that used on first 
seeing the moon — " Blessed be He who reneweth the months." 
To this the synagogue, towards the close of the third 
century, added the following : ** Blessed be He by whose 
word the heavens were created, and by the breath of whose 
mouth all the hosts thereof were formed ! He ' appointed 
them a law and time, that they should not overstep their 
course. They rejoice and are glad to perform the wiil of 
their Creator, Author of truth ; their operations are truth ! 
He spoke to the moon, Be thou renewed, and be the beautiful 
diadem (Z.^., the hope) of man (/.V., Israel), who shall on© 



256 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

day be quickened again like the moon (i.e.^ at the coming 
of Messiah), and praise their Creator for His glorious king- 
dom. Blessed be He who reneweth the moons." ^ At a yet 
much later period, a very superstitious prayer was next 
inserted, its repetition being accompanied by leaping towards 
the moon ! New Moon's Day, though apparently observed 
in the time of Amos as a day of rest,^ is not so kept by 
the Jews in our days, nor, indeed, was abstinence from work 
enjoined in the Divine law.^ 

Quite distinct from the other new moons, and more sacred 
than they, was that of the seventh month, or Tishriy partly 
on account of the symbolical meaning of the seventh or 
sabbatical month, in which the great feasts of the Day of 
Atonement and of Tabernacles occurred, and partly, perhaps, 
because it also marked the commencement of the civil year, 
always supposing that, as Josephus and most Jewish writers 
maintain, the distinction between the sacred and civil year 
dates from the time of Moses.* In Scripture this feast is 
designated as the "memorial blowing,"^ or "the day of 
blowing,"® because on that day the trumpets, or rather, as 

1 The article ** New Moon" in Kitto's Cycl. erroneously states that not only 
this prayer, but even the much later superstitious addition was ** during the period 
of the second Temple offered up by every Israelite. " But comp. Jost. Gesch, d. 
yudenth,, ii. 265, 266, where the time of their origin is traced. 

2 Amos viii. 5. 

3 The Talmud has this curious story in explanation of the custom that women 
abstain from work on New Moons — that the women had refused to give their ear- 
rings for the golden calf, while the men gave theirs, whereas, on the other hand, 
the Jewish females contributed their ornaments for the Tabernacle. 

* In another place we have adopted the common, modem view, that this distinc- 
tion only dates from the return from Babylon. But it must be admitted that the 
weight of authority is all on the other side. The Jews hold that the world was 
created in the month Tishri. 

^ Lev. xxiii. 24. Numb, xxix, I. 



The New Moons. 257 

we shall see, the horns were blown all day long in Jerusalem. 
It was to be observed as " a Sabbath," and " a holy convoca- 
tion," in which *' no servile work " might be done. The pre- 
scribed offerings for the day consisted, besides the ordinary 
morning and evening sacrifices, first, of the burnt-offerings, 
but not the sin-offerings of ordinary new moons, with their 
meat- and drink-offerings, and after that, of another festive 
burnt-offering of one young bullock, one ram, and seven 
lambs, with their appropriate meat- and drink-offerings, 
together with '' one kid of the goats for a sin-offering, to 
make an atonement for you." While the drink-offering of 
the festive sacrifice was poured out, the priests and Levites 
chanted Psalm Ixxxi., and if the feast fell on a Thursday, 
for which that Psalm was, at any rate, prescribed, it was 
sung twice, beginning the second time at verse 7 in the 
Hebrew text, or verse 6 of our Authorised Version. At the 
evening sacrifice Psalm xxix. was sung. For reasons pre- 
viously explained,^ it became early common to observe the 
New Year's Feast on two successive days, and the practice 
may have been introduced in Temple times. 

The Mishitahy which devotes a special tractate to this 
feast, remarks that a year may be arranged according to four 
different periods ; the first, beginning with the 1st of Nisan, 
being for *' kings " (to compute taxation) and for computing 
the feasts ; the second, on the 1st of Elul (the sixth month), 
for tithing flocks and herds, any animal born after that not 
being reckoned within the previous year ; the third, on the 
1st of Tishri (the seventh month), for the Civil, the Sab- 
batical, and the Jubilee year, also for trees and herbs ; and 
lastly, that on the ist of Shebat (the eleventh month), for 

^ Chiefly to prevent possible mistakes. 

6 



258 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

all fruits of trees. Similarly, continues the Mishnah, there 
are four seasons when judgment is pronounced upon the 
world : at the Passover, in regard to the harvest ; at Pentecost, 
in regard to the fruits of trees ; on the Feast of Tabernacle^ 
in regard to the dispensation of rain ; while on " New Year's 
Day all the children of men pass before Him like lambs 
(when they are counted for the tithing), as it is written/ 
' He fashioneth their hearts alike ; He considereth all their 
works/ " To this we may add, as a comment of the Talmud, 
that on New Year's Day three books were opened — that of 
life for those whose works had been good ; another of death, 
for those who had been thoroughly evil ; and a third, inters 
mediate, for those whose case was to be decided on flie 
Day of Atonement (ten days after New Year), the delay 
being granted for repentance, or otherwise, after which their 
names would be finally entered, either in the book of life, or 
in that of death. By these terms, however, eternal life or 
death are not necessarily meant ; rather earthly well-being, 
and, perhaps, temporal life, or the opposite. It is not 
necessary to explain at length on what Scriptural passages 
this curious view about the three books is supposed to rest.^ 
But so deep and earnest are the feelings of the Rabbis on 
this matter, that by universal consent the ten days inter- 
vening between New Year and the Day of Atonement are 
regarded as " days of repentance.'* Indeed, from a mis- 
understanding of a passage in the Mishiah^ a similar super- 

i Psa. xxxiii. 15. 

* The two principal passages are Psa. Ixix. 28, and Ex. xxxii. 32 ; the former 
IS thus explained : ** Let them be blotted out of the book," which means the book 
of the wicked, while the expression **of the living" refers to that of the righteous, 
so that the next clause, " and not be written with the righteous," is supposed to 
indicate the existence of a third or intermediate book 1 * Sheb. i. 4, S« 



The New Moons. 259 

stition attaches to every new moon, the day preceding it 
being kept by rigid Jews as one of fasting and repentance, 
and called the " Lesser Day of Atonement." In accordance 
with this the Rabbis hold that the blowing of the trumpets 
is intended, first, to bring Israel, or rather the merits of the 
patriarchs and God's covenant with them, in remembrance 
before the Lord ; secondly, to be a means of confounding 
Satan, who appears on that day specially to accuse Israel ; 
and, lastly, as a call to repentance — as it were, a blast to 
wake men from their sleep of sin.^ 

During the whole of New Year's Day, trumpets and horns 
were blown in Jerusalem from morning to evening. In the 
Temple it was done, even on a Sabbath, but not outside 
its walls. Since the destruction of Jerusalem this restriction 
has been removed, and the horn is blown in every synagogue, 
even though the feast fall upon a Sabbath. It has already 
been hinted that the instruments used were not the ordinary 
priests* trumpets, but horns. The Mishnah holds that any 
kind of horns may be blown except those of oxen or 
calves, in order not to remind God of the sin of the golden 
calf ! The Misknahy however, specially mentions the straight 
horn of the antelope and the bent horn of the ram ; the 
latter with special allusion to the sacrifice in substitution 
of Isaac, it being a tradition that New Year's Day was that 
in which Abraham, despite Satan's wiles to prevent or 

1 Maimonides, Moreh Nev, , iii. 43. In opposition to this, Luther annotates as 
follows : *' They were to blow with the horn in order to call God and His wondrous 
works to remembrance ; how He had redeemed them — as it were to preach about 
it, and to thank Him for it, just as among us Christ and His redemption is 
remembered and preached by the Gospel ; " to which the Weimar Glossa7y adds : 
*' Instead of the horn and trumpets we have bells." See Lundius, Jiid. HeUigtlu^ 
p. 1024, coi. ii. Buxtorf applies Amos iii. 16 to the blowing of the horn. 



26o The Temphy its Ministry and Services. 

retard him, had offered up his son Isaac on Mount Moriah. 
The mouthpiece of the horns for New Year's Day were fitted 
with gold — those used on fast days with silver. Another 
distinction was this — on New Year's Day those who blew 
the horn were placed between others who blew the trumpets, 
and the sound of the horn was prolonged beyond that of 
the trumpets ; but on fast days those who sounded the 
trumpets stood in the middle, and their blast was prolonged 
beyond that of the horns. For the proper obseryance of these 
solemn seasons, it was deemed necessary not only to hear but 
to listen to the sound of the horn, since, as the Mishnah 
adds, everything depends on the intent of the heart, not 
on the mere outward deed, just as it was not Moses lifting 
up his hands that gave Israel the victory, nor yet the lifting up 
of the brazen serpent which healed, but the upturning of the 
heart of Israel to " their Father who is in heaven " — or faith.^ 
We quote the remark, not only as one of the comparatively 
few passages in the Mishnah^ which turn on the essence of 
religion, but as giving an insight into the most ancient views 
of the Rabbis on these types, and as reminding us of the 
memorable teaching of our Lord to one of those very 
Rabbis.' 

The Mishnah ^ mentions various " Berachoth " or " benedic- 
tions " as having been repeated on New Year's Day. These, 
with many others of later date, still form part of the liturgy 
in the synagogue for that day. But there is internal evidence 
that the prayers, at any rate in their present form, could not 
have been used, at least, in the Temple.* Besides, the 

1 Rosh ha Sh. iii. 8. « John iii. 14, 15. ^ ^osh ha Sh. iv. 5, etc. 

* From the text of Rosh ha Sh. iv. 7, it distinctly appears that they were 

intended to be used in the synagogues. Of course, this leaves the question open. 



The New Moons. 261 

Rabbis themselves differ as to their exact amount and 
contents, and finally satisfy themselves by indicating that 
the titles of these benedictions are rather intended as /lead^ 
ings^ to show their contents, and what special direction 
their prayers had taken. One set of them bore on *'the 
kingdom '' of God, and is accordingly called Malchiyoth ; 
another, the Sichronothy referred to the various kinds of 
" remembrance " on the part of God ; while a third, called 
Shopharoth, consisted of benedictions, connected with the 
" blowing of the horn." It is said that any one who simply 
repeated ten passages from Scripture — according to another 
authority, three — bearing on " the kingdom of God," ** the 
remembrance of God," and "the blowing of horns," had 
fulfilled his duty in regard to these " benedictions." 

From Scripture we know with what solemnity the first 
day of the seventh month was observed at the time of Ezra, 
and how deeply moved the people were by the public reading 
and explanation of the law, which to so many of them came 
like a strange sound, all the more solemn, that after so long 
a period they heard it again on that soil, which, as it were, 
bore witness to its truth.^ In the New Testament there is 
no reference to our Lord having ever attended this feast in 
Jerusalem. Nor was this necessary, as it was equally cele- 
brated in all the synagogues of Israel.^ Yet there seems 
some allusion to the blowing of the horn in the writings 
of St. Paul. We have already stated that, according to 



whether or not something like them was also said in the Temple. The Mishnah 
mentions altogether nine of these ** benedictions." 

* Neh. viii. I- 1 2. 

2 But in the synagogues out of Jerusalem, the A?r«, not trumpets, was blown on 
New Year's Day. 



262 The Temple y its Ministry and Services. 

Maimonides/ one of its main purposes was to rouse men to 
repentance. In fact, the commentator of Maimonides makes 
use of the following words to denote the meaning of the blowing 
of trumpets : '* Rouse ye, rouse ye from your slumber ; awake, 
awake from your sleep, you who mind vanity, for slumber 
most heavy has fallen upon you. Take it to heart, before 
Whom you are to give an account in the judgment." May 
not some such formula also have been anciently used in the 
synagogue;^ and may not the remembrance of it have been 
present to the mind of the apostle, when he wrote :^ " Where- 
fore it is said, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the 
dead, and Christ shall give thee light!" If so, we may 
possibly find an allusion to the appearance of the new moon, 
specially to that of the seventh month, in these words of one 
of the preceding verses : * " For ye were sometimes darkness, 
but now are ye light in the Lord : walk as children of light I " 

^ Moreh Nev. , iii. c. 43. 
\ Comp. Goodwin, Moses et Aaron (ed. Hottinger), p. 6o]« 
» Epb. ▼. 34. * Epli* V, S. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. 

•• But into the second (tabernacle) went the high-priest alone once every year, not 
without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people, 
.... But Christ being come an high- priest of good things to come .... 
by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained 
eternal redemption for us." — Heb. ix. 7, il, 12, 

IT may sound strange, and yet it is true, that the clearest 
testimony to *' the weakness and unprofitableness " " ot 
the commandment " is that given by " the commandment " 
itself. The Levitical arrangements for the removal of sin 
bear on their forefront, as it were, this inscription : " The law 
made nothing perfect" — having neither a perfect mediatorship 
in the priesthood, nor a perfect " atonement ** in the sacri- 
fices, nor yet a perfect forgiveness as the result of both, 
** For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and 
not the very image of the things, can never with those 
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make 
the comers thereunto perfect."^ And this appears, j'^ri'/, from 
the continual recurrence and the multiplicity of these sacri- 
fices, which are intended the one to supplement the other, 
and yet always leave something to be still supplemented ; 

» Heb. X, I. 



264 The Templey its Ministry and Services. 

and, secondly y from the broad fact that, in general, " it is not 
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take 
away sins."^ It is therefore evident that the Levitical dis- 
pensation, being stamped with imperfectness alike in the 
means which it employed for the " taking away " of sin, and 
in the results which it obtained by these means, declared 
itself, like John the Baptist, only a " forerunner," the breaker 
up and preparer of the way — not the satisfying, but, on the 
contrary, the calling forth and "the bringing in of a better 
hope." 2 

As might have been expected, this " weakness and unpro- 
fitableness of the commandment " became most apparent 
in the services of the day in which the Old Testament 
provision for pardon and acceptance attained, so to speak, 
its climax. On the "Day of Atonement," not ordinary 
priests, but the high-priest alone officiated, and that not 
in his ordinarj^ dress, nor yet in that of the ordinary 
priesthood, but in one pecuhar to the day, and peculiarly 
expressive of purity. The worshippers also appeared in 
circumstances different from those on any other occasion, 
since they were to fast and to " afflict their souls ; " the 
day itself was to be " a Sabbath of Sabbatism,"^ while its 
central services consisted of a series of grand expiatory 
sacrifices, unique in their character, purpose, and results, as 
described in these words : " He shall make an atonement 
for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement 
for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar^ 
and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for 
all the people of the congregation."^ But even the need of 

* Heb. X. 4. ' Heb. vii. 19 ; see marginal rendering. 

• Rendered "Sabbath of rest** in Authorised Version. * Lev. xvi. 53, 



The Day of Atonement. 265 

such a " Day of Atonement," after the daily offerings, the 
various festive sacrifices, and the private and public sin- 
offerings all the year round, showed the insufficiency of 
all such sacrifices, while the very offerings of the **Day of 
Atonement" proclaimed themselves to be only temporary 
and provisional, "imposed until the time of reformation/* 
We specially allude here to the mysterious appearance of the 
so-called *' scape-goat," of which we shall, in the sequel, have 
to give an account differing from that of previous writers. 

The names " Day of Atonement," or in the Talmud, which 
devotes to it a special tractate, simply ^^ the day" (perhap*^ 
also in Heb. vii. 27^), and in the Book of Acts "the fast,*'* 
sufficiently designate its general object. It took place ^n 
the loth day of the seventh month {Tiskri)y that is, sym- 
bolically, when the sacred or Sabbath of months had just 
attained its completeness. Nor must we overlook the position 
of that day relatively to the other festivals. The seventh or 
sabbatical month closed the festive cycle, the Feast of Taber- 
nacles on the 15th of that month being the last in the year. 
But, as already stated, before that grand festival of han/esting 
and thanksgiving Israel must, as a nation, be reconciled unto 
rGod, for only a people at peace with God might rejoice before 
Him in the blessing with which He had crowned the year.^ 
And the import of the Day of Atonement, as preceding the 
Feast of Tabernacles, becomes only more striking, when we 
remember how that feast of harvesting prefigured the final 
ingathering of all nations. In connection with this point it 

* In that case we should translate Heb. vii. 27, ** Who needeth not on each day 
(viz., of atonement), as those high-priests, to offer up his sacrifices," etc. 

* Acts xxvii. 9. 

* See ch. xiv. So also Keil, Oehler, Kurtz, Hupfeld, and almost all writers on 
the subject. 



266 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

may also be well to remember that the Jubilee Year was 
always proclaimed on the Day of Atonement.^ 

In briefly reviewing the Divine ordinances about this day,* 
we find that only on that one day in every year the high- 
priest was allowed to go into the Most Holy Place, and then 
arrayed in a peculiar white dress, which differed from that 
of the ordinary priests, in that its girdle also was white, and 
not of the Temple colours, while "the bonnet*' was of the 
same shape, though not the same material as " the mitre,*' 
which the high-priest ordinarily wore.^ The simple white 
of his array, in distinction to the "golden garments" which 
he otherwise wore, pointed to the fact that on that day the 
high-priest appeared, not " as the bridegroom of Jehovah," 
but as bearing in his official capacity the emblem of that 
perfect purity which was sought by the expiations of that 
day.^ Thus in the prophecies of Zechariah the removal of 
Joshua's " filthy garments " and the clothing him with 
" change of raiment," symbolically denoted — " I have caused 
/thine iniquity to pass from thee."^ Similarly those who 
stand nearest to God are always described as arrayed " in 
white." ^ And because these were emphatically "the holy 
garments," "therefore" the high-priest had to "wash his 
flesh in water, and so put them on,"^ that is, he was not 

^ Lev. XXV. 9. According to the Jewish view, it was also the day on which 
Adam had both sinned and repented ; that on which Abraham was circumcised ; 
and that on which Moses returned from the mount and made atonement for the 
sin of the golden calf. 

* Lev. xvi. ; xxiii. 26-32 ; Numb. xxix. II. 
' This appears from the Hebrew terms. 

* According to Yoina, iii. 7, the High Priest wore in the morning white 
raiments of Felusian, and " between the evenings" of Indian stuff — respectively 
valued (no doubt, extravagantly) at about ;^li8 and £'](), 

^ Zech, iii, 3, 4, • See Ezek. ix. 2, etc. ; Dan. x. 5 ; xii. 6. ? Lev. xvi. 4^ 



The Day of Atonement. 267 

merely to wash his hands and feet, as before ordinary minis- 
trations, but to bathe his whole body. 

From Numb. xxix. 7-1 1 it appears that the offerings on the 
Day of Atonement were really of a threefold kind — " the con- 
tinual burnt-offering," that is, the daily morning and evening 
sacrifices, with their meat and drink-offerings ; the festive 
sacrifices of the day, consisting for the high-priest and the 
priesthood, of "a ram for a burnt-offering,''^ and for the 
people of one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of 
the first year (with their meat-offerings) for a burnt-sacrifice, 
and one kid of the goats for a sin-offering ; and, thirdly, 
and chiefly, the peculiar expiatory sacrifices of the day, 
which were a young bullock as a sin-offermg for the high- 
priest, his house, and the sons of Aaron, and another sin- 
offering for the people, consisting of two goats, one of which 
was to be killed and its blood sprinkled, as directed, while the 
other was to be sent away into the wilderness, bearing " all the 
iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions 
in all their sins " which had been confessed ** over him," and 
laid upon him by the high-priest. Before proceeding further, 
we note the following as the order of these sacrifices — first, the 
ordinary morning sacrifice ; next the expiatory sacrifices for 
the high-priest, the priesthood, and the people (one bullock, 
and one of the two goats, the other being the so-called scape- 
goat) ; then the festive burnt-offerings of the priests and the 
people,* and with them another sin-offering ; and, lastly, the 
ordinary evening sacrifice, being, as Maimonides observes, in all 
fifteen sacrificial animals. According to Jewish tradition^ the ^ 

^ Lev. xvi. 3. * Numb. xxix. 7-1 1. I 

5 Special references would here be too numerous, and we must in general refer 
to Mish. Yoma, and to the tractates of Maimonides on the order of that service, 
which latter we follow very closely. 



268 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

whole of the services of that day were performed by the high- 
priest himself, of course, with the assistance of others, for 
which purpose more than 500 priests were said to have been 
employed.^ Of course, if the Day of Atonement fell on a 
Sabbath, besides all these, the ordinary Sabbath sacrifices 
were also offered. On a principle previously explained, the 
high-priest purchased from his own funds the sacrifices 
brought for himself and his house, the priesthood, however, 
contributing, in order to make them sharers in the offering, 
while the public sacrifices for the whole people were paid 
for from the Temple treasury. Only while officiating in 
the distinctly expiatory services of the day did the high- 
priest wear his "linen garments;" in all the others he was 
arrayed in his "golden vestments." This necessitated a 
frequent change of dress, and before each he bathed his 
whole body. All this will be best understood by a more 
detailed account of the order of service, as given in the 
Scriptures and by tradition.^ 

Seven days before the Day of Atonement the high-priest 
left his own house in Jerusalem, and took up his abode in 
his chambers in the Temple. A substitute was appointed 
for him, in case he should die or become Levitically unfit 
for his duties. Rabbinical punctiliousness went so far as to 
have him twice sprinkled with the ashes of the red heifer — 
on the 3rd and the 7th day of his week of separation — in 
case he had, unwittingly to himself, been defiled by a dead 
body.^ During the whole of that week, also, he had to 

* Comp. Jost. Gesch, d. yudenth., vol i. p. 164. 

* The reader will readily distinguish what is derived from Scripture and what 
merely from tradition. 

' Numb. xix. 13. May not the "sprinkling of the ashes of an heifer" in 
Heb. ix. 13 refer to this ? The whole section bears on the Day of Atonement. 



The Day of Atonement. 269 

practise the various priestly rites, such as sprinkling the 
blood, burning the incense, lighting the lamp, offering the 
daily sacrifice, etc. For, as already stated, every part of 
that day's services devolved on the high-priest, and he must 
not commit any mistake. Some of the elders of the San- 
hedrim were appointed to see to it, that the high-priest 
fully understood, and knew the meaning of the service, 
otherwise they were to instruct him in it. On the eve of 
the Day of Atonement the various sacrifices were brought 
before him, that there might be nothing strange about the 
services of the morrow. Finally, they bound him by a 
solemn oath not to change anything in the rites of the day. 
This was chiefly for fear of the Sadducean notion, that the 
incense should be lighted before the high-priest actually 
entered into the Most Holy Place ; while the Pharisees held 
that this was to be done only within the Most Holy Place 
itself.^ The evening meal of the high-priest before the 
great day was to be scanty. All night long he was to be 
hearing and expounding the Holy Scriptures, or otherwise 
kept employed, so that he might not fall asleep.^ At mid- 
night the lot was cast for removing the ashes and preparing 
the altar ; and to distinguish the Day of Atonement from all 
others, four^ instead of the usual three, fires were arranged 
on the great altar of burnt-offering. 

The services of the day began with the . first streak of 
morning light. Already the people had been admitted into 

^ The only interesting point here is the Scriptural argument on which the Saddu- 
cees based their view. They appealed to Lev. xvi. 2, and explained the expres- 
sion, ** I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat," in a rationalistic sense as 
applying to the cloud of incense, not to that of the Divine Presence, while the 
Pharisees appealed to verse 13. 

• For special Levitica reason*. 



2 JO The Temple^ its Mmistry and Services. 

the sanctuary. So jealous were they of any innovation 
or alteration, that only a linen cloth excluded the high- 
priest from public view, when, each time before changing 
his garments, he bathed — not in the ordinary place of the 
priests, but in one specially set apart for his use. Altogether 
he changed his raiments and washed his whole body five 
times on that day,^ and his hands and feet ten times.^ When 
the first dawn of morning was announced in the usual 
manner, the high-priest put off his ordinary (layman's) dress, 
bathed, put on his golden vestments, washed his hands and 
feet, and proceeded to perform all the principal parts of the 
ordinary morning service. Tradition has it, that immedi- 
ately after that, he offered certain parts of the burnt-sacri- 
fices for the day, viz., the bullock and the seven lambs, 
reserving his own ram and that of the people, as well as 
the sin-offering of a kid of the goats,^ till after the special 
expiatory sacrifices of the day had been brought. But the 
text of Lev. xvi. 24 is entirely against this view, and shows 
that the whole of the burnt-offerings and the festive sin- 
offering were brought after the expiatory services. Con- 
sidering the relation between these services and sacrifices, 
this might, at any rate, have been expected, since a burnt- 
offering could only be acceptable after^ not before, expiation. 

The morning service finished, the high-priest washed his 
hands and feet, put off his golden vestments, bathed, put 
on his "linen garments," again washed his hands and feet, 
and proceeded to the peculiar part of the day's services 

^ In case of age or infirmity, the bath was allowed to be heated, either by adding 
warm water, or by putting hot irons into it. 

* The high-priest did not on that day wash in the ordinary laver, but in a golden 
vessel specially provided fv^r the purpose. 

^ Numb. xxix. 8-1 1, 



TJte Day of Ato7tement. 271 

The bullock for his sin-offering stood between the Temple- 
porch and the altan It was placed towards the south, but 
the high-priest, who stood facing the east (that is, the wor- 
shippers), turned the head of the sacrifice towards the west 
(that is, to face the sanctuary). He then laid both his 
hands upon the head of the bullock, and confessed as fol- 
lows : — '' Ah, Jehovah ! I have committed iniquity ; I have 
transgressed ; I have sinned — I and my house. Oh, then, 
Jehovah, I entreat Thee, cover over (atone for, let there 
be atonement for) the iniquities, the transgressions, and the 
sins which I have committed, transgressed, and sinned before 
Thee, I and my house — even as it is written in the law of 
Moses, Thy serv^ant : ' For, on that day will He cover over 
(atone) for you to make you clean ; from all your trans- 
gressions before Jehovah ye shall be cleansed."* It will 
be noticed that in this solemn confession the name Jehovah 
occurred three times. Other three times was it pronounced 
in the confession which the high-priest made over the same 
bullock for the priesthood ; a seventh time was it uttered 
when he cast the lot as to which of the two goats was to 
be "for Jehovah;" and once again he spoke it three times 
in the confession over the so-called '^ scape-goat '* which bore 
the sins of the people. All these ten times the high-priest 
pronounced the very name of Jehovah, and, as he spoke 
it, those who stood near cast themselves with their faces on 
the ground, while the multitude responded : " Blessed be 
the Name ; the glory of His kingdom is for ever and ever."^ 
Formerly it had been the practice to pronounce the so-called 
*' Ineffable Name " distinctly, but afterwards, when some 
attempted to make use of it for magical purposes, it was 

^ In support of this benediction, reference is made to Deut xxxii. 3. 



272 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

spoken with bated breath, and, as one relates^ who had stood 
among the priests in the Temple and listened with rapt 
attention to catch the mysterious name, it was lost amidst 
the sound of the priests' instruments, as they accompanied 
the benediction of the people.* 

The first part of the expiatory service — that for the priest- 
hood — had taken place close to the Holy Place, between the 
porch and the altar. The next was performed close to the 
worshipping people. In the eastern part of the Court of 
Priests, that is, close to the worshippers, and on the north side 
of it, stood an urn, called Calpi, in which were two lots of the 
same shape, size, and material — in the second Temple they 
were of gold ; the one bearing the inscription "la-jEHOVAH," 
for Jehovah, the other " la-Azazel," for Azazel, leaving the 
expression^ (rendered " scape-goat *' in the Authorised Version) 
for the present untranslated. These two goats had been 
placed with their backs to the people and their faces towards 
the sanctuary (westwards). The high-priest now faced the 
people, as, standing between his substitute (at his right hand) 
and the head of the course on ministry (on his left hand), he 
shook the urn, thrust his two hands into it, and at the same 
time drew the two lots, laying one on the head of each goat. 
Popularly it was deemed of good augury if the right-hand lot 
had fallen ** for Jehovah." The two goats, however, must be 
altogether alike in look, size, and value ; indeed, so earnestly 
was it sought to carry out the idea that these two formed parts 

* Rabbi Tryphon in the yerus. Taint, Possibly some readers may not know 
that the Jews never pronounce the word Jehovahy but always substitute for it 
*'Lord" (printed in capitals in the Authorised Version). Indeed, the right pro- 
nunciation of the word has been lost, and is matter of dispute, all that we have in 
the Hebrew being the letters /. H, V, H, — forming the so-called tetragrammaton^ 
w **fouj-lettered word.'* * Lev, xvi. 8, 10, 26, 



The Day of Atonement. 27^ 

of one and the same sacrifice, that it was arranged they should, 
if possible, even be purchased at the same time. The import- 
ance of this view will afterwards be explained. The lot having 
designated each of the two goats, the high-priest tied a tongue- 
shaped piece of scarlet cloth to the horn of the goat for Azazel 
— the so-called " scape-goat " — and another round the throat 
of the goat for Jehovah, which was to be slain. The goat that 
was to be sent forth was now turned round towards the people, 
and stood facing them, waiting, as it were, till their sins should 
be laid on him, and he would carry them forth into " a land 
not inhabited." Assuredly a more marked type of Christ 
could not be conceived, as He was brought forth by Pilate and 
stood before the people, just as He was about to be led forth, 
bearing the iniquity of the people. And, as if to add to the 
significance of the rite, tradition has it that when the sacrifice 
was fully accepted the scarlet mark which the scape-goat had 
borne became white, to symbolise the gracious promise in 
Isa. i. 18 ; but it adds that this miracle did not take place for 
forty years before the destruction of the Temple ! 

With this presentation of the scape-goat before the people 
commenced the third and most solemn part of the expiatory 
services of the day. The high-priest now once more returned 
towards the sanctuary, and a second time laid his two hands 
on the bullock, which still stood between the porch and the 
altar, to confess over him, not only as before, his own and his 
household's sins, but also those of the priesthood. The form* 
ula used was precisely the same as before, with the addition 
of the words, " the seed of Aaron, Thy holy people," both in 
the confession and in the petition for atonement. Then the 
high-priest killed the bullock, caught up his blood in a vessel, 
and gave it to an attendant to keep it stirring, lest it should 

T 



274 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

coagulate. Advancing to the altar of burnt-offering, he rext 
filled the censer with burning coals, and then ranged a handful of 
frankincense in the dish destined to hold it. Ordinarily, every- 
thing brought in actual ministry unto God must be carried in 
the right hand — hence the incense in the right and the censer 
in the left. But on this occasion, as the censer for the Day of 
Atonement was larger and heavier than usual, the high-priest 
was allowed to reverse the common order. Every eye was 
strained towards the sanctuary as, slowly bearing the censer 
and the incense, the figure of the white-robed high-priest was 
seen to disappear within the Holy Place. After that nothing 
further could be seen of his movements. The curtain of the 
Most Holy Place was folded back, and the high-priest stood 
alone and separated from all the people in the awful gloom of 
the Holiest of All, only lit up by the red glow of the coals in 
the priest's censer. In the first Temple the ark of God had 
stood there with the " mercy-seat " overshadowing it ; above it^ 
the visible presence of Jehovah in the cloud of the Shechinah^ 
and on either side the outspread wings of the cherubim ; and 
the high-priest had placed the censer between the staves of the 
ark. But in the Temple of Herod there was neither Shechu 
nah nor ark — all was empty ; and the high-priest rested his 
censer on a large stone, called the ''foundation-stone."^ He 
now most carefully emptied the incense into his hand, and 
threw it on the coals of the censer, as far from himself as pos- 
sible, and so waited till the smoke had filled the Most Holy 
Place. Then, retreating backwards, he prayed outside the veil 
as follows '? '' May it please Thee, O Lord our God, and the 

* There is no need for here entering on the legends connected with this so-calJed 
** foundation-stone. " 

* We give the prayer in its simplest form from the Talmud. But we cannot 
help feeling that its form savours of later than Temple- times. Probably only its 



The Day of Atonement. 275 

God of our fathers, that neither this day nor during this year 
any captivity come upon us. Yet, if captivity befall us this 
day or this year, let it be to -a place where the law is culti- 
vated. May it please Thee, O Lord our God, and the God of 
our fathers, that want come not upon us, either this day or this 
year. But if want visit us this day or this year, let it be due 
to the liberality of our charitable deeds. May it please Thee, 
O Lord our God, and the God of our fathers, that this year 
may be a year of cheapness, of fulness, of intercourse and 
trade ; a year with abundance of rain, of sunshine, and of 
dew ; one in which Thy people Israel shall not require assist- 
ance one from another. And listen not to the prayers of those 
who are about to set out on a journey.^ And as to Thy people 
Israel, may no enemy exalt himself against them. May it 
please Thee, O Lord our God, and the God of our fathers, 
that the houses of the men of Saron may not become their 
graves."^ The high-priest was not to prolong this prayer, lest 
his protracted absence might fill the people with fears for his 
safety. While the incense was offering in the Most Holy 
Place the people withdrew from proximity to it, and wor- 
shipped in silence. At last the people saw the high-priest 
emerging from the sanctuary, and they knew that the service 
had been accepted. Rapidly he took from the attendant, who 
had kept it stirring, the blood of the bullock. Once more he 
entered into the Most Holy Place, and sprinkled with his 
finger once upwards, towards where the mercy-seat had been^ 

substance dates from those days, and each high-priest may have been at liberty to 
formulate it according to his own views. 

1 W^ho might pray against the fall of rain. It must be remembered that the 
autumn rains, on which the fruitfulness of the land depended, were just due. 

2 This on account of the situation of that valley, which was threatened either hf 
sudden floods or by dangerous landslips. 



276 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

and seven times downwards, counting as he did so : " Once " 
(upwards), " once and once " (downwards), '* once and twice/' 
and so on to *' once and seven times,'' always repeating the 
word ** once," which referred to the upwards sprinkling, so as to 
prevent any mistake. Coming out from the Most Holy Place, 
the high-priest now deposited the bowl with the blood before 
the veil. Then he killed the goat set apart for Jehovah, and, 
entering the Most Holy Place a third time, sprinkled as before, 
once upwards and seven times downwards, and again deposited 
the bowl with the blood of the goat on a second golden stand 
before the veil. Taking up the bowl with the bullock's blood, 
he next sprinkled once upwards and seven times downwards 
towards the veil, outside the Most Holy Place, and then did 
the same with the blood of the goat. Finally, pouring the 
blood of the bullock into the bowl which contained that of the 
goat, and again the mixture of the two into that which had 
held the blood of the bullock, so as thoroughly to commingle 
the two, he sprinkled each of the horns of the altar of incense, 
and then, making a clear place on the altar, seven times the 
top of the altar of incense. Thus he had sprinkled forty- 
three times with the expiatory blood, taking care that his own 
dress should never be spotted with the sin-laden blood. What 
was left of the blood the high-priest poured out on the west 
side of the base of the altar of burnt-offering. 

By these expiatory sprinklings the high-priest had cleansed 
the sanctuary in all its parts from the defilement of the priest- 
hood and the worshippers. The Most Holy Place, the veil, 
the Holy Place, the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt- 
offering were now clean alike, so far as the priesthood and as 
the people were concerned ; and in their relationship to the sanc- 
tuary both priests and worshippers were atoned for. So far as 



The Day of Atonement. 277 

the law could give it, there was now again free access for all ; or, 
to put it otherwise, the continuance of typical sacrificial com- 
munion with God was once more restored and secured. Had it 
not been for these services, it would have become impossible 
for priests and people to offer sacrifices, and so to obtain the 
forgiveness of sins, or to have fellowship with God. But the 
consciences were not yet free from a sense of personal guilt and 
sin. That remained to be done through the '' scape-goat." All 
this seems clearly implied in the distinctions made in Lev. 
xvi. 33 : "And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanc- 
tuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of 
the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an 
atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the con- 
gregation." 

Most solemn as the services had hitherto been, the wor- 
shippers would chiefly think with awe of the high-priest 
going into the immediate presence of God, coming out thence 
alive, and securing for them by the blood the continuance of 
the Old Testament privileges of sacrifices and of access unto 
God through them. What now took place concerned them, 
if possible, even more nearly. Their own personal guilt and 
sins were now to be removed from them, and that in a sym- 
bolical rite, at one and the same time the most mysterious 
and the most significant of all. All this while the " scape- 
goat," with the "scarlet-tongue," telling of the guilt it was 
to bear, had stood looking eastwards, confronting the people, 
and waiting for the terrible load which it was to carry away 
"unto a land not inhabited." Laying both his hands on the 
head of this goat, the high-priest now confessed and pleaded : 
" Ah, Jehovah ! they have committed iniquity ; they have 
transgressed; they have sinned — Thy people, the house of 



'278 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

Israel. Oh, then, JEHOVAH ! cover over (atone for), I intreat 
Thee, upon their iniquities, their transgressions, and their 
sins, which they have wickedly committed, transgressed, and 
sinned before Thee — Thy people, the house of Israel. As it is 
written in the law of Moses, Thy servant, saying : * For on 
that day shall it be covered over (atoned) for you, to make 
you clean from all your sins before JEHOVAH ye shall be 
cleansed/ " And while the prostrate multitude worshipped 
at the name of Jehovah, the high-priest turned his face towards 
them as he uttered the last words, " Ye shall be cleansed ! " as 
if to declare to them the absolution and remission of their sins. 
Then a strange scene would be witnessed. The priests 
led the sin-burdened goat out through " Solomon's Porch,'* 
and, as tradition has it, through the eastern gate, which 
opened upon the Mount of Olives.i Here an arched bridge 
spanned the intervening valley, and over it they brought the 
goat to the Mount of Olives, where one, specially appointed 
for the purpose, took him in charge. Tradition enjoins 
that he should be a stranger, a non-Israelite, as if to make 
still more striking the type of Him who was delivered 
over by Israel unto the Gentiles ! Scripture tells us no more 
of the destiny of the goat that bore upon him all the iniqui- 
ties of the children of Israel, than that they " shall send 
him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness,'' and 
that " he shall let go the goat in the wilderness."'^ But tradition 
supplements this information. The distance between Jeru- 
salem and the beginning of " the wilderness " is computed 
at ninety stadia, making precisely ten intervals, each half a 
Sabbath-day's journey from the other. At the end of each 
these intervals there was a station, occupied by one or more 

* The Talmud has it, that the foreign Jews present used to burst into words and 
deeds of impatience, that the " sin-bearer" might be gone. * Lev. xvi. 22. 



The Day of Atonement. 279 

persons, detailed for the purpose, who offered refreshment to 
the man leading the goat, and then accompanied him to the 
next station. By this arrangement two results were secured : 
some trusted persons accompanied the goat all along his 
journey, and yet none of them walked more than a Sabbath- 
day's journey — that is, half a journey going and the other half 
returning. At last they reached the edge of the wilderness. 
Here they halted, viewing afar off, while the man led forward 
the goat, tore off half the "scarlet-tongue," and stuck it on a, 
projecting cliff; then, leading the animal backwards, he pushed 
it over the projecting ledge of rock. There was a moment's 
pause, and the man, now defiled by contact with the sin- 
bearer, retraced his steps to the last of the ten stations, where 
he spent the rest of the day and the night. But the arrival 
of the goat in the wilderness was immediately telegraphed, by 
the waving of flags, from station to station, till, a few minutes 
after its occurrence, it was known in the Temple, and whispered 
from ear to ear, that " the goat had borne upon him all their 
iniquities into a land not inhabited." 

What then was the meaning of a rite on which such momem 
tous issue depended } Everything about it seems strange and 
mysterious — the lot that designated it, and that "to Azazel ;*' 
the fact, that though the highest of all sin-offerings, it was 
^neither sacrificed nor its blood sprinkled in the Temple; 
and the circumstance that it really was only part of a sacri- 
fice — the two goats together forming one sacrifice, one of 
them being killed, and the other " let go,'' there being no 
other analogous case of the kind except at the purification of 
a leper, when one bird was killed and the other dipped in its 
blood, and let go free. Thus these two sacrifices — one in the 
removal of what symbolically represented indwelling sin. 



28o The Temple, its Alinistry and Services. 

*:he other contracted guilt — agreed in requiring two animals, 
of whom one was killed, the other " let giV* This is not the 
place to discuss the various views entertained of the import of 
the scape-goat.^ But it is destructive of one and all of the 
received interpretations, that the sins of the people were con- 
fessed not on the goat which was killed, but on that which 
was " let go in the wilderness," and that it v/as this goat — not 
the other — which "bore upon him all the iniquities'* of the 
people. So far as the conscience was concerned this goat 
was the real and the only sin-offering " for all the iniquities of 
the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their 
sins," for upon it the high-priest laid the sins of the people, after 
he had by the blood of the bullock and of the other goat ** made 
an end of reconciling the Holy Place, and the tabernacle of the 
congregation, and the altar." ^ The blood sprinkled had effected 
this ; but it had done no more, and it could do no more, for 
it "could not make him that did the service perfect, as per- 
taining to the conscience."^ The symbolical representation 
of this perfecting was by the live goat, which, laden with the 
confessed sins of the people, carried them away into ''the 
wilderness" to "a land not inhabited." The only meaning 
of which this seems really capable, is that though confessed 
guilt was removed from the people to the head of the goat, as 
the symbolical substitute, yet as the goat was not killed, only 
sent far away, into " a land not inhabited," so, under the Old' 
Covenant, sin was not really blotted out, only put away from 
the people, and put aside till Christ came, not only to take 
upon Himself the burden of transgression, but to blot it out 

* For a full discussion, we must refer to works on Biblical Antiquities ax^ 
on the- Types of the Old Testament. 

* Lev xvL 2a * Heb. ix. 9, 



The Day of Atonement. 281 

and to purge it away} Thus viewed, not only the text of 
Lev. xvi., but the language of Heb. ix. and x., which chiefly 
refer to the Day of Atonement, becomes plain. The " blood," 
both of the bullock and of the goat which the high-priest 
carried " once a year " within " the sacred veil," was " offered 
for himself (including the priesthood) and for the errors 
(or rather ignorances) of the people." In the language of 
Lev. xvi. 20, it reconciled ''the Holy Place, and the tabernacle 
of the congregation, and the altar," that is, as already ex- 
plained, it rendered on the part of priests and people the con- 
tinuance of sacrificial worship possible. But this live scape-goat 
"let go" in the wilderness, over which, in the exhaustive 
language of Lev. xvi. 21, the high-priest had confessed and on 
which he had laid " all the iniquities of the children of Israel, 
and all their transgressions in all their sins," meant something 
quite different. It meant the inherent '* weakness and un- 
profitableness of the commandment;" it meant, that "the 
law made nothing perfect, but was the bringing in of a better 
hope ; '' that in the covenant mercy of God guilt and sin were 
indeed removed from the people, that they were "covered up," 
and in that sense atoned for, or rather that they were both 
"covered up" and removed, but that they were not really 
taken away and destroyed till Christ came ; that they were 
only taken into a land not inhabited, till He should blot it 
out by His own blood ; that the provision which the Old 
Testament made was only preparatory and temporary, until 
*' the time of the reformation ;" and that hence real and true 
forgiveness of sins, and with it the spirit of adoption, could only 
be finally obtained after the death and resurrection of "the 
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." Thus 

* May there be here also a reference to the doctrine of Christ's descent into Hades f 



2S2 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

in the fullest sense it was true of the " fathers," that '' these all 
. . . received not the promise : God having provided some better 
thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." 
For "the law having a shadow of the good things to come," 
could not ''make the comers thereunto perfect ;" nor yet was 
it possible " that the blood of bulls and of goats should take 
away sins." The live goat *4et go" was every year a remover of 
sins which yet were never really removed in the sense of being 
blotted out — only deposited, as it were, and reserved till He 
came '' whom God hath set forth as a propitiation .... because 
of the passing over of the former sins, in the forbearance 
of God."^ ''And for this cause He is the mediator of a new 
covenant, in order that, death having taken place for the 
propitiation of the transgressions under the first covenant, 
they which have been called may receive the promise of the 
eternal inheritance."^ 

This is not the place for following the argument further. 
Once understood, many passages will recur which manifest how 
the Old Testament removal of sin was shown in the law 
itself to have been complete indeed, so far as the individual 
was concerned, but not really and in reference to God, till 
He came to Whom as the reality these types pointed, and 
Who " now once at the end of the world hath been mani- 
fested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."^ And 
thus did the types themselves prove their own inadequacy 
and insufficiency, showing that they had only "a shadow 
of the good things to come, and not the very image of the 
things themselves."* With this also agree the terms by 

* Rom. iii. 25. We have generally adopted the rendering of Dean Alford, 
where the reader will perceive any divergence from the Authorised Version. 

• Heb. ix. 15. 3 Heb. ix. 26. * Heb. x. i. 



The Day of Atonement. 283 

which in the Old Testament atonement is designated as a 
" covering up " by a substitute, and the mercy-seat as " the 
place of covering over." 

After this it is comparatively of secondary importance to 
discuss, so far as we can in these pages, the question of the 
meaning of the term ** la-Azazel."^ Both the interpretation 
which makes it a designation of the goat itself (as " scape- 
goat '' in our Authorised Version), and that which would 
refer it to a certain locality in the wilderness^ being, on many 
grounds, wholly untenable, two other views remain, one of 
which regards Azazel 2l^ a person, and denoting Satan ; while 
the other would render the term by "complete removal." 
The insurmountable difficulties connected with the first 
of these notions lie on the surface. In reference to the 
second, it may be said that it not only does violence to 
Hebrew grammar, but implies that the goat which was to 
be for " complete removal " was not even to be sacrificed but 
actually "let go!" Besides, what in that case could be the 
object of the first goat which was killed, and whose blood 
was sprinkled in the Most Holy Place ? We may here at 
once state, that the later Jewish practice of pushing the 
goat over a rocky precipice was undoubtedly an innovation^ 
in no wise sanctioned by the law of Moses, and not even 
introduced at the time the Septuagint translation was made, 
as its rendering of Lev. xvi. 26 shows. The law simply 
ordained that the goat, once arrived in "the land not 
inhabited," was to be " let go " free, and the Jewish ordinance 
of having it pushed over the rocks is signally characteristic 
of the Rabbinical perversion of its spiritual type. The word 
Azazely which only occurs in Lev. xvi., is by universal consent 

I Lev. xvi. 8, lo, 26. 

* Thus the book Sift-a paraphrases it : "a rough place in the mountains.'* 



284 The TemplCy its Mmistry and Services. 

derived from a root which means " wholly to put aside," or, 
** wholly to go away." Whether, therefore, we render "la- 
Azazel *' by '* for him who is wholly put aside," that is, the 
sin-bearing Christ, or " for being wholly separated,*' or " put 
wholly aside or away," the truth is still the same, as pointing 
through the temporary and provisional removal of sin by the 
goat '' let go " in " the land not inhabited," to the final, real, 
and complete removal of sin by the Lord Jesus Christ, as we 
read it in Isa. liii. 6, " Jehovah hath made the iniquities of us 
all to meet on Him." 

While the scape-goat was being led into the wilderness, the 
high-priest proceeded to cut up the bullock and the goat with 
whose blood he had previously " made atonement," put the 
" inwards " in a vessel which he committed to an attendant,^ 
and sent the carcasses to be burnt "outside the city," in the 
place where the Temple ashes were usually deposited. Then, 
according to tradition, the high-priest, still wearing the linen 
garments,^ went into the " Court of the Women " and read 
the passages of Scripture bearing on the Day of Atonement, 
viz., Lev. xvi. ; xxiii. 27-32 ; also repeating by heart^ Numb. 
xxix. 7-1 1. A series of prayers accompanied this reading 
of the Scriptures. The most interesting of these supplica- 
tions may be thus summed up : — Confession of sin with 
prayer for forgiveness, closing with the words, ^^ Praise be 
to Thee^ Lordy Who in Thy mercy forgivest tJie sins of Thy 
people Israel ;'' prayer for the permanence of the Temple, and 
that the Divine Majesty might shine in it, closing with — 

^ Lightfoot \JDe MinisL Templi) erroneously states that the high-priest immedi- 
ately burnt them. 

2 But this was not strictly necessary ; he might in this part of the service have 
even officiated in his ordinary layman's dress. 

' Maimonides gives a cmiuus Rabbinical reason for this. 



The Day of Atonement. 285 

^^ Praise be to Thee, O Lord, Who hthabitest Zion ;''' prayer 
for the establishment and safety of Israel, and the con- 
tinuance of a king among them, closing — '' Thanks be to Thee^ 
O Lordy Who hast chosen Israel ; " prayer for the priesthood, 
that all their doings, but especially their sacred services, 
might be acceptable unto God, and He be gracious unto 
them, closing with — " Thanks be to Thee, O Lord, Who hast 
sanctified the priesthood ; " and, finally (in the language of 
Maimonide^, prayers, entreaties, hymns, and petitions of the 
high-priest's own, closing with the words : " Give help, O 
Lord, to Thy people Israel, for Thy people needeth help ; thanks 
be unto Thee, O Lord, Wha hearest prayer!'^ 

These prayers ended, the high-priest washed his hands and 
feet, put off his " linen,'' and put on his " golden vestments," 
and once more washed hands and feet before proceeding to 
the next ministry. He now appeared again before the people 
as the Lord's anointed in the golden garments of the bride- 
chamber. Before he offered the festive burnt-ofiferings of the 
day, he sacrificed "one kid of the goats for a sin-offering," ^ 
probably with special reference to these festive services, 
which, like everything else, required atoning blood for their 
acceptance. The flesh of this sin-ofifering was eaten at night 
by the priests within the sanctuary. Next, he sacrificed the 
burnt-offerings for the people and that for himself,^ and 
finally burned the " inwards '* of the expiatory offerings, 
whose blood had formerly been sprinkled in the Most Holy 
Place. This, properly speaking, finished the services of the 
day. But the high-priest had yet to offer the ordinary 

^ In regard to these prayers we refer the reader to our remarks in a previous 
chapter. The view there expressed about the wording of the prayers holds also 
good in regard to those on the Day of Atonement. 

* Numb. xxix. 1 6. ^ One ram, Lev. xvi. 3, 



286 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

evening sacrifice, after which he washed his hands and his 
feet, once more put off his ** golden " and put on his " linen 
garments," and again washed his hands and feet. This 
before entering the Most Holy Place a fourth time on that 
day,^ to fetch from it the censer and incense-dish which he 
had left there. On his return he washed once more hands 
and feet, put off his linen garments, which were never to be 
used again, put on his golden vestments, washed hands and 
feet, burnt the evening incense on the golden altar, lit the 
lamps on the candlestick for the night, washed his hands 
and feet, put on his ordinary layman's dress, and was escorted 
by the people in procession to his own house in Jerusalem. 
The evening closed with a feast 

If this ending of the Day of Atonement seems incongru- 
ous, the Mishnah records^ something yet more strange in 
connection with the day itself. It is said that on the after- 
noon of the 15 th of Ab, when the collection of wood for the 
sanctuary was completed, and on that of the Day of Atone- 
ment, the maidens of Jerusalem went in white garments, 
specially lent them for the purpose, so that rich and poor 
might be on an equality, into the vineyards close to the 
city, where they danced and sung. The following fragment 
of one of their songs has been preserved :^ 

" Around in circle gay, the Hebrew maidens see ; 
From them our happy youths their partners choose. 
Remember I Beauty soon its charm must lose — 
And seek to win a maid of fair degree. 



1 Heb. ix. 7 states that the high-priest went **once in every year," that is^ 
on one day in every year, not on one occasion during that day. 

s Taan. iv. 8. 

3 The Talmud repeatedly states the fact and gives the song. Nevertheless we 
have some doubt on the subject, though the reporter in the Mishnah is said to be 
none oUier than Rabbi Simeon, the son of Gamaliel, Paul's teacher. 



The Day of Atonement. 287 

•* \Vhen fading grace and beauty low are laid, 

Then praise shall her who fears the Lord await; 
God does bless her handiwork — and, in the gate, 
'Her works do follow her,' it shall be said." 

We will not here undertake the melancholy task of describ- 
ing what the modern synagogue has made the Day of Atone- 
ment, nor how it observes the occasion — chiefly in view of 
their gloomy thoughts, that on that day man's fate for the 
year, if not his life or death, is finally fixed. But even the 
Miskftah already contains similar perverted notions of how 
the day should be kept, and what may be expected from 
its right observance.^ Rigorous rest and rigorous fasting 
are enjoined from sundown of one day to the appearance 
of the first stars on the next. Neither food nor drink of 
any kind may be tasted ; a man may not even wash, nor 
anoint himself, nor put on his sandals.^ The sole exception 
made is in favour of the sick and of children, who are only 
bound to the full fast — girls at the age of twelve years and 
one day, and boys at that of thirteen years and one day, 
though it is recommended to train them earlier to it.^ In 
return for all this "affliction" Israel may expect thdX deatk 
alo7ig with the Day of Atonement will finally blot out all sins ! 
That is all — the Day of Atonement and our own death ! 
Such are Israel's highest hopes of expiation ! It is unspeak- 
ably saddening to follow this subject further through the 
minuticB of Rabbinical ingenuity — how much exactly the 

* Mish, Voma vin, 

' Only woollen socks are to be used — the only exception is, where there 'is fear 
of serpents or scorpions. 

3 Kings and brides within thirty days of their wedding are allowed to wash the> 
faces ; the use of a towel which has been dipped the previous day in water is also 
conceded. 



5RS The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

Day of Atonement will do for a man ; what proportion of 
his sins it will remit and what merely suspend ; how much 
is left over for after-chastisements, and how much for final 
extinction at death. The law knows nothing of such miser- 
able petty misrepresentations of the free pardon of God. 
In the expiatory sacrifices of the Day of Atonement every 
kind^ of transgression, trespass, and sin is to be removed 
from the people of God. Yet annually anew, and each time 
confessedly only provisionally, not really and finally, till the 
gracious promise^ should be fulfilled : " I will forgive their ini- 
quity, and I will remember their sin no more." Accordingly it 
is very marked, how in the prophetic, or it may be symbolical, 
description of Ezekiel's Temple^ all mention of the Day of 
Atonement is omitted ; for Christ has come " an high-priest 
of good things to come," and '' entered in once into the Holy 
Place," "to//// away sin by the sacrifice of Himself."* 

^ For high-handed, purposed sins, the law provided no sacrifice (Heb. x 26), 
and it is even doubtful whether they are included in the declaration Lev. xvi. 21, 
wide as it is. Thank God, we know that " the blood of Jesus Christ His Son 
cleanseth from all sin," without exception. 

* Jer, xxxL 34. ^ Ezek, xL-xlvL * Heb, ix. Ii, 12, 26. 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

ON PURIFICATIONS. 

THE BURNING OF THE RED HEIFER — THE CLEANSING OF THE HEALED 
LEPER — THE TRIAL OF THE WOMAN SUSPECTED OF ADULTERY. 

•* And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man ; but go thy way, show thyself 
to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto 
them." — Matt. viii. 4. 

FESTIVE seasons were not the only occasions which 
brought worshippers to Jerusalem. Every trespass 
and sin, every special vow and offering, and every defilement 
called them to the Temple. All the rites then enjoined are 
full of deep meaning. Selecting from them those on which 
the practice of the Jews at the time of Christ casts a special 
light, our attention is first called to a service, distinguished 
from the rest by its unique character. 

I . The purification f^'om the defilement of death by the ashes oj 
tlie red Jieifer (Numb. xix.). In the worship of the Old Testa- 
ment, where everything was symbolical, that is, where spiritual 
realities were conveyed through outward signs, every physical 
defilement would point to, and carry with it, as it were, a 
spiritual counterpart. But especially was this the case with 
reference to birth and death, which were so closely connected 
with sin and the second death, with redemption and the second 
birth. Hence, all connected with the origin of life and with 



290 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

pointing forward to a great and world-important fact yet to be 
realised. Lastly, being of later, and indeed, of human, not 
Divine institution, the authorities at Jerusalem did not ven- 
ture to prescribe for them special rites and sacrifices, which, 
as we have seen, constituted the essence of Temple worship. 

Arranging these various feasts and fasts in the order of 
their institution and importance, we have : — 

I. The Feast oi Piirimy that is *'of lots," or the Feast 
of Esther, also called in 2 Maccab. xv. 36 " the day of Mor- 
decaiy^ which was observed in memory of the preservation 
of the Jewish nation at the time of Esther. The name 
*' Purim'' is derived from "the lot" which Haman cast in 
connection with his wicked desire. It was proposed by 
Mordecai to perpetuate the anniversary of this great deli- 
verance on the 14th and the 15th of Adar (about the beginning 
of March), and universally agreed to by the Jews of his time.^ 
Nevertheless, according to the Jerusalem Talmud, its general 
introduction after the return from Babylon formed a subject of 
grave doubt and deliberation among the "eighty-five elders "t— 
a number which, according to tradition, included upwards of 
thirty prophets.^ Even this shows that Purim was never 
more than a popular festival. As such it was kept with great 
merriment and rejoicing, when friends and relations were wont 
to send presents to each other. There seems little doubt 

^ Esth. iii. 7 ; ix. 24. ' Esth. ix. 1 7-24. 

* Jer, Megillah, 70 b. The learned Jost (Gesch. d. Judenth., i. 42, note i) 
suggests that these "85 elders" were really the commencement of **the great 
synagogue," to which so many of the Jewish ordinances were traced in later times. 
The number was afterwards, as Jost thinks, arbitrarily increased to 120, which is 
that assigned by tradition to ** the great synagogue. " ** The great synagogue " may 
be regarded as the ''constituent" Jewish authority on all questions of ritual after 
the return from Babylon. Lastly, Jost suggests that the original 85 were the 
signatories to **the covenant," named in Neh. x. 1-27. 



Post- Mosaic Festivals. 291 

that this was the " feast of the Jews,'* to which the Saviour 
" went up to Jerusalem/'^ when He healed the ''impotent man " 
at the Pool of Bethesda. For no other feast could have inter- 
vened between December ^ and the Passover,^ except that 
of the '' Dedication of the Temple," and that is specially- 
designated as such,^ and not simply as " a feast of the Jews.'* 

So far as we can gather, the religious observances of Purim 
commenced with a fast — "the fast of Esther" — on the 13th 
of Adar. But if Purim fell on a Sabbath or a Friday the fast 
was relegated to the previous Thursday^ as it was not lawful 
to fast either on a Sabbath or the day preceding it. But 
even so, there were afterwards disputes between the Jews in 
Palestine and the much larger and more influential com- 
munity that still resided in Babylon as to this fast,^ which 
seem to throw doubt on its very early observance. On 
the evening of the 13th of Adar, or rather on the beginning 
of the 14th, the book of Esther, or the Megillah ("the roll," 
as it is called par excellence), was publicly read, as also on 
the forenoon of the 14th day, except in ancient walled cities, 
where it was read on the iSth. In Jerusalem, therefore, 
it would be read on the evening of the 13th, and on the 
15 th — always provided the day fell not on a Sabbath, on 
which the Megillah was not allowed to be read.^ In the later 
Jewish calendar arrangements care was taken that the first 
day of Purim should fall on the first, the third, the fifth, 
or the sixth day of the week. Country people, who went into 
their market towns every week on the Monday and Thursday, 

1 John V. I. 2 John iv. 35. s John vi. 4. * John x. 22. 

^ See Jost, vol. i. p. 265. 

^ We have chiefly quoted from the Mishnic tractate Megillah, which, however, 
is more discursive even than the rest, and alludes to many subjects besides the feast 
of Purim 



292 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

were not required to come up again specially for PtcriMy and 
in such synagogues the Megillahy or at least the principal 
portions of it, was read on the previous Thursday. It w^as also 
allowed to read the book of Esther in any language other 
than the Hebrew, if spoken by the Jews resident in the 
district, and any person, except he were deaf, an idiot, or 
a minor, might perform this service. The prayers for the 
occasion how used in the synagogue, as also the practice 
of springing rattles and other noisy demonstrations of anger, 
contempt, and scorn, with which the name of Haman, where 
it occurs in the Megillah, is always greeted by young and old, 
are, of course, of much later date. Indeed, so far from pre- 
scribing any fixed form of prayer, the Mishnah} expressly 
leaves it an open question, to be determined according to 
the usage of a place, whether or not to accompany the reading 
of the Megillah with prayer. According to the testimony 
of Josephus,^ in his time *' all the Jews that are in the habit- 
able earth *' kept " these days festivals," and sent " portions to 
one another." In our our own days, though the synagogue 
has prescribed for them special prayers and portions of Scrip- 
ture, they are chiefly marked by boisterous and uproarious 
merrymaking, even beyond the limits of propriety. 

2. The Feast of the Dedication of the Temple, Chanuchah 
("the dedication"), called in I Maccab. iv. 52-59 ''the dedica- 
tion of the altar," and by Josephus^ '* the feast of lights," was 
another popular and joyous festival. It was instituted by 
Judas Maccabseus in 164 B.C., when, after the recovery of 
Jewish independence from the Syro-Grecian domination, the 
Temple of Jerusalem was solemnly purified, the old polluted 
altar removed, its stones put in a separate place on the 

1 MegilL iv. I. ^ Antiq, xi. 6, 13. ^ Antiq, xii. 7, 7. 



Post- Mosaic Festivals. 293 

Temple-mount, and the worship of the Lord restored. The 
feast commenced on the 25th of Chislev (December), and lasted 
for eight days. On each of them the " Hallel " was sung, the 
people appeared carrying palm and other branches, and there 
was a grand illumination of the Temple and of all private 
houses. These three observances bear so striking a resem- 
blance to what we know about the Feast of Tabernacles, that 
it is difficult to resist the impression of some intended con- 
nection between the two, in consequence of which the daily 
singing of the '* Hallel,*' and the carrying of palm branches was 
adopted during the Feast of the Dedication, while the practice 
of Temple-illumination was similarly introduced into the Feast 
of Tabernacles.^ All this becomes the more interesting, when 
we remember, on the one hand, the typical meaning of the 
Feast of Tabernacles, and on the other that the date of the 
Feast of the Dedication — the 25th of Chislev — seems to have 
been adopted by the ancient Church as that of the birth of 
our blessed Lord — Christmas — the Dedication of the true 
Temple, which was the body of Jesus.* 

From the hesitating language of Josephus,^ we infer that 
even in his time the real origin of the practice of illuminating 
the Temple was unknown. Tradition, indeed, has it that when 
in the restored Temple the sacred candlestick* was to be 
lit only one flagon of oil, sealed with the signet of the high- 
priest, was found to feed the lamps. This then was pure oil, 
but the supply was barely sufficient for one day — when, lo, by 
a miracle, the oil increased, and the flagon remained filled for 

1 In point of fact, the three are so compared in 2 Mace. x. 6, and even the same 
name applied to them, i. 9, 18. Geiger {(Jrschr, u. Uebers. p. 227) has attempted 
an ingenious but unsatisfactory explanation of the latter circumstance. 

* John ii. 19. See "Christmas a Festival of Jewish Origin," in the Leisure 
//our for Dec, 1873. ^ Antiq, xii. 7, 7. 

* According to tradition, the first candlestick in that Temple was of iron, tinned 
over ; the second of silver, and then only a golden one was procured. 



294 ^^^ Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

eight days, in memory of which it was ordered to illuminate 
for the same space of time the Temple and private houses. A 
learned Jewish writer, Dr. Herzfeld,^ suggests, that to com- 
memorate the descent of fire from heaven upon the altar 
in the Temple of Solomon,^ " the feast of lights '' was insti- 
tuted when the sacred fire was relit on the purified altar 
of the second Temple. But even so the practice varied 
in its details. Either the head of a house might light one 
candle for all the members of his family, or else a candle 
for each inmate, or if very religious he would increase the 
number of candles for each individual every evening, so 
that if a family of ten had begun the first evening with ten 
candles they would increase them the next evening to twenty, 
and so on, till on the eighth night eighty candles were 
lit. But here also there was a difference between the schools 
of Hillel and Shammai — the former observing the practice 
as just described, the latter burning the largest number of 
candles the first evening, and so on decreasingly to the last day 
of the feast. On the Feast of the Dedication, as at Purim and' 
New Moons, no public fast was to be kept,^ though private 
mourning was allowed.* 

The forms of prayer at present in use by the Jews are of 
comparatively late date, and indeed the Karaites, who in 
many respects represent the more ancient traditions of Israel, 
do not observe the festival at all. But there cannot be 
a doubt that our blessed Lord Himself attended this festival at 
Jerusalem,^ on which occasion He told them plainly: " I and 

i Gesch. d, Volkes Isr., vol. ii. p. 271. 

2 2 Chron. vii. i. 3 Taan,, ii. 10. 

* Moed Katon, iii. 9. Accordingly, the statement in Kitto's Encyd., i. p. 653, 
that *'mournmg" for any ** bereavement '' was not permitted, must be corrected, 
or at least modified. ^ ]ohn x. 22. 



Post-Mosaic Festivals. 295 

My Father are one.'* This gives it a far deeper significance 
than the rekindhng of the fire on the altar, or even the con- 
nection of this feast with that of Tabernacles. 

3. The Feast of Wood-offering^ took place on the 15th Ab^ 
(August), being the last of the nine occasions on which offerings 
of wood were brought for the use of the Temple. For 
the other eight occasions the Talmud names certain families 
as specially possessing this privilege, which they had probably 
originally received " by lot " at the time of Nehemiah.^ At 
any rate the names mentioned in the Mishnah are exactly 
the same as those in the book of Ezra.* But on the 15 th of 
Ab, along with certain families, ^// the people — even proselytes, 
slaves, Nethinim, and bastards, but notably the priests 
and Levites, were allowed to bring up wood, whence also 
the day is called " the time of wood for the priests." The 
other eight seasons were the 20th of Elul (September), the ist 
of Tebeth (January), the ist of Nisan (end of March or April), 
the 20th of Thammus (save, "for the family of David"), 
the 5th, the 7th, the loth, and the 20th of Ab. It will 
be observed that five of these seasons fall in the month of Ab, 
probably because the wood was then thought to be in best 
condition. The Rabbinical explanations of this are confused 
and contradictory, and do not account for the 15th of Ab 
being called, as it was, '' the day on which the axe is broken," 
unless it were that after that date till spring no wood might be 
felled for the altar, although what had been previously cut 
might be brought up. The 15 th of the month was fixed 

* Mish., Taan.y iv. ; Jos. yew. Wars, ii. 17, 6. 

2 By^ a mistake, our copies of Josephus make him fix the 14th as the date of 
this feast. 
^ Neh. X. 34 ; xiiL 31. * Ezra ii. ; see Ilerzfeld, vol. i. 469 ; ii. 144. 



296 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

for the feast, probably because at full moon the month was 
regarded as at its maturity. Tradition, of course, had its own 
story to account for it. According to one version it was 
Jeroboam, the wicked king of Israel, to whom so much evil is 
always traced ; according to another, a Syro-Grecian monarch — 
Antiochus Epiphanes; and according to yet a third some un- 
named monarch who had prohibited the carrying of wood and 
of the first-fruits to Jerusalem, when certain devoted families 
braved the danger, and on that day secretly introduced 
wood into the Temple, in acknowledgment whereof the privi- 
lege was for ever afterwards conceded to their descendants. 

The wood was first deposited in an outer chamber, where 
that which was worm-eaten or otherwise unfit for the altar 
was picked out by priests who were disqualified from other 
ministry. The rest was handed over to the priests who 
were Levitically qualified for their service, and by them 
stored in **the wood chamber.'' The 15th of Ab was ob- 
served as a popular and joyous festival. On this occasion 
(as on the Day of Atonement) the maidens went dressed in 
white, to dance and sing in the vineyards around Jerusalem, 
when an opportunity was offered to young men to select 
their companions for life. We may venture on a suggestion 
to account for this curious practice. According to the Talmud, 
the 15th of Ab was the day on which the prohibition was 
removed which prevented heiresses from marrying out of their 
own tribes.^ If there is any historical foundation for this, it 
would be very significant, that when all Israel, without any 
distinction of tribes or families, appeared to make their offer- 
ings at Jerusalem, they should be at liberty similarly to select 
their partners in life without the usual restrictions. 
» Comp. Herzfeld, vol. ii. p. 144, note 3^ 



Post-Mosaic Festivals. 297 

4. Fasts. — These may be arranged into public and privatCy 
the latter on occasions of personal calamity or felt need. The 
former alone can here claim our attention. Properly speaking, 
there was only one Divinely-ordained public fast, that of the 
Day of Atonement. But it was quite in accordance with the 
will of God, and the spirit of the Old Testament dispensation, 
that when great national calamities had overtaken Israel, or 
great national wants arose, or great national sins were to be 
confessed, a day of public fasting and humiliation should be 
proclaimed.^ To these the Jews added, during the Babylonish 
captivity, what may be called memorial-fasts^ on the anni- 
versaries of great national calamities. Evidently this was an 
unhealthy religious movement. What were idly bewailed as 
national calamities were really Divine judgments, caused by 
national sins, and should have been acknowledged as righteous, 
the people turning from their sins in true repentance unto God. 
This, if we rightly understand it, was the meaning of Zecha- 
riah's reply- to those who inquired whether the fasts of the 
fourth, the fifth, the seventh, and the tenth months, were to be 
continued after the return of the exiles from Babylon. At 
the same time, the inquiry shows, that the four great Jewish 
fasts, which, besides the Day of Atonement and the Fast of 
Esther, are still kept, were observed so early as the Babylonish 
captivity.^ " The fast of the fourth month " took place on the 
17th Thammus (about June or July), in memory of the taking 
of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the interruption of the 
daily sacrifice. To this tradition adds, that it was also the 
anniversary of making the golden calf, and of Moses breaking 
the Tables of the Law. **The fast of the fifth month," on the 

* See for example, Judg. xx. 26 ; I Sam. vii. 6 ; i Kings xxi. 27 ; 2 Chron. xx. 3» 
2 Zech. vii. viii. ^ Zech. viii. 19, 



298 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

9th of Ab, was kept on account of the destruction of the first 
(and afterwards of the second) Temple. It is significant that 
the second Temple (that of Herod) was destroyed on the 
first day of the week. Tradition has it, that on that day- 
God had pronounced judgment that the carcasses of all 
who had come out of Egypt should fall in the wilderness, 
and also, that again it was fated much later to witness the 
fulfilment of Jer. xxvi. 18-23, when a Roman centurion had 
the ploughshare drawn over the site of Zion and of the 
Temple. "The fast of the seventh month," on the 2nd 
of Tishri, is said by tradition to be in memory of the 
slaughter of Gedahah and his associates at Mizpah.^ "The 
fast of the tenth month " was on the lOth of Tebeth, when the 
siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar commenced. 

Besides these four, the Day of Atonement, and the Fast of 
Esther, the Jewish calendar at present contains other twenty-two 
fast-days. But that is not all. It was customary to fast twice 
a week^ between the Paschal week and Pentecost, and be- 
tween the Feast of Tabernacles and that of the Dedication of 
the Temple. The days appointed for this purpose were the 
Monday and Thursday of every week — because, according to 
tradition, Moses went up Mount Sinai the second time to 
receive the Tables of the Law on a Thursday, and came down 
again on a Monday. On public fasts, the practice was^ to 
bring the ark which contained the rolls of the law from the 
synagogue into the streets, and to strew ashes upon it. The 
people all appeared covered with sackcloth and ashes. Ashes 
were publicly strewn on the heads of the elders and judges. 
Then one more venerable than the rest would address the 
people, his sermon being based on such admonition as this ; 
Jer. xli. I. ^ Luke xviii. 12. ^ See Taaniih, ii. 1-6. 



Post-Mosaic Festivals. 299 

" My brethren, it is not said of the men of Nineveh, that God 
had respect to their sackcloth or their fasting, but that ' God 
saw their works, that they turned from their evil way.'^ 
Similarly, it is written in the 'traditions* (of the prophets) : 
* Rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto 
Jehovah your God.'"^ An aged man, whose heart and home 
** God had emptied," that he might give himself wholly to 
prayer, was chosen to lead the devotions. Confession of sin 
and prayer mingled with the penitential Psalms.^ In Jeru- 
salem they gathered at the eastern gate, and seven times 
as the voice of prayer ceased, they bade the priests "blow!" 
and they blew with horns and their priests' trumpets. In other 
towns, they only blew horns. After prayer, the people retired 
to the cemeteries to mourn and weep. In order to be a proper 
fast, it must be continued from one sundown till after the next, 
when the stars appeared, and for about twenty-six hours the 
most rigid abstinence from all food and drink was enjoined. 
Most solemn as some of these ordinances sound, the reader 
of the New Testament knows how sadly all degenerated 
into mere formalism ; ^ how frequent fasting became mere 
work- and self-righteousness, instead of being the expression 
of true humiliation ; ® and how the very appearance of the 

* Jonah iii. lo. * Joel ii. 13. 

3 Psalms cii. ; cxx. ; cxxi. ; cxxx. Our account is based on the Mishnah 
( Taan, ii. ). But we have not given the Psalms in the order there mentioned, nor 
yet reproduced the prayers and ' ' benedictions, " because they seem mostly, if not 
entirely, to be of later date. In general, each of the latter bases the hope of being 
heard on some Scriptural example of deliverance in answer to prayer, such as that 
of Abraham on Mount Moriah, of Israel when passing through the Red Sea, of 
Joshua at Gilgal, of Samuel at Mizpah, of Elijah on Mount Carmel, of Jonah in 
the whale's belly, and of David and Solomon in Jerusalem. Certain relaxations of 
the fast were allowed to the priests when actually on their ministry. 

* See the very interesting description of details in Taan. ii 5. 

* Matt, ix, 14; Mark ii. 18; Luke v. 33. ® Luke xviii. 12. 



300 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

penitent, unwashed and with ashes on his head, was even made 
matter of boasting and religious show.^ So true is it that all 
attempts at penitence, amendment, and religion, without 
the Holy Spirit of God and a change of heart, only tend to 
entangle man in the snare of self-deception, to fill him with 
f^piritual pride, and still further to increase his real alienation 
from God.^ 

1 Matt vi. 1 6. 

2 Of the three sects or schools the Pharisees were here the strictest, being in this 
jxlso at the opposite pole from the Sadducees. The fasts of the Essenes were indeed 
even more stringent, and almost constant, but they were intended not to procure 
7nerit^ but to set the soul free from the bondage of the body, which was regarded 
as the seat of all sin. Besides the above-mentioned fast, and one of all the firstborn 
on the eve of every Passover, such of the ** men of the station " as went not up to 
Jerusalem with their company fasted on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and 
Thursday, in their respective synagogues, and prayed for a blessing on their 
brethren and on the people. They connected their fasts and prayers with the 
section in Gen. i., which they read on those days— praying on the Monday (Gen. 
i. 9) for those at sea ; on the Tuesday (vers. 1 1, 12) for all on a journey ; on the Wed- 
nesday (ver. 14, on account of the supposed dangerous influences of sun and moon) 
against diseases of children ; and on the Thursday (ver. 20) for women labouring 
with child and for infants. 

Further particulars would lead us from a description of the Temple- services to 
those of the synagogue. But it is interesting to note how closely the Roman 
Church has adopted the practices of the synagogue. In imitation of the four 
Jewish fasts mentioned in Zech. viii. 19, the year was divided into four seasons 
— Quatember — each marked by a fast — three of these being traced by tradition 
to Bishop Callistus (223), and the fourth to Pope Leo I. (440). In 1095, Urban ii. 
fixed these four fasts on the Wednesdays after Ash- Wednesday, Whit-Sunday, 
the Exaltation of the Cross, and the Feast oi S. Lucia {13th December), according 
to this monkish distich : — 

** Post Luciam, cineres, post sanctum pneuma, crucemque 
Tempora dat quatuor feria quarta sequens. " 
The early Church substituted for the two weekly Jewish fast-days — Monday and 
Thursday — the so-called '* dies stationum," ** guard or watch-days " of the Chris* 
tian soldier, or Christian fast-days — Wednesday and Friday, on which the Saviour 
had been respectively betrayed and crucified. See the article *' Fasten,^'* in 
Herzog's EncycL, vol. iii. pp. 334-339. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

POST-MOSAIC FESTIVALS. 

*' And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And 
Jesus walked in the Temple in Solomon's Porch." — ^John x. 22, 23. 

BESIDES the festivals mentioned in the Law of Moses, 
other festive seasons were also observed at the time of 
our Lord, to perpetuate the memory either of great national 
deliverances or of great national calamities. The former were 
popular feasts, the latter public fasts. Though most, if not 
all of them, are alluded to in the Canonical Scriptures, it 
is extremely difficult to form a clear idea of how they were 
kept in the Temple. Many of the practices connected with 
them, as described in Jewish writings, or customary at present, 
are of much later date than Temple times, or else apply 
rather to the festive observances in the various synagogues 
of the land than to those in the central sanctuary. And 
the reason of this is evident. Though those who were at 
leisure might like to go to Jerusalem for every feast, yet 
the vast majority of the people would, except on the great 
festivals, naturally gather in the synagogues of their towns and 
villages. Moreover, these feasts and fasts were rather national 
than typical — they commemorated a past event instead of 

U 



302 The Temple, its Ministry and Sei^vices. 

death, implied defilement, and required Levitical purification. 
But here there was considerable difference. Passing over the 
minor defilements attaching to what is connected with the origin 
of life, the woman who had given birth to a child was Levitically 
unclean for forty or for eighty days, according as she had 
become the mother of a son or a daughter.^ After that she was 
to offer for her purification a lamb for a burnt-, and a turtle- 
dove, or young pigeon, for a sin-offering ; in case of poverty, 
altogether only two turtledoves or two young pigeons. We 
remember that the mother of Jesus availed herself of that 
provision for the poor, when at the same time she presented 
in the Temple the Royal Babe, her firstborn son.^ 

On bringing her offering, she would enter the Temple 
through " the gate of the firstborn," and stand in waiting at 
the gate of Nicanor, from the time that the incense was 
kindled on the golden altar. Behind her, in the Court of the 
Women, was the crowd of worshippers, while she herself, 
at the top of the Levites' steps, which led up to the great 
court, would witness all that passed in the sanctuary. At 
last one of the officiating priests would come to her at the 
gate of Nicanor, and take from her hand the '* poor's offering,"^ 
which she had brought. The morning sacrifice was ended ; and 
but few would linger behind while the offering for her purifica- 
tion was actually made. She who brought it mingled prayer 
and thanksgiving with the service. And now the priest once 
more approached her, and, sprinkling her with the sacrificial 
blood, declared her cleansed. Her " firstborn " was next re-^ 
deemed at the hand of the priest, with five shekels of silver ;* 

^ Lev. xii. * Luke ii. 22. ^ So it is liierally called in the Talmud. 

* According to the Mishnah {Beeho7\ viii. 7) **of Tyrian weight ''= 10 to 12 
shillings of our money. The Rabbis lay it down that redemption-money was only 
paid for a son who was the firstborn of his mother, and who was "suitable for 
the priesthood," that is, had no disqualifying bodily blemishes. 



On Purifications 303 

two benedictions being at the same time pronounced, one for 
the happy event which had enriched the family with a firstborn, 
the other for the law of redemption.^ And when, with grateful 
heart, and solemnised in spirit, she descended those fifteen steps 
where the Levites were wont to sing the " Hallel," a sudden 
light of heavenly joy filled the heart of one who had long 
been in waiting '*for the consolation of Israel." If the Holy 
Spirit had revealed it to just and devout Simeon^ that he 
** should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ,*' 
who should vanquish death, it was the same Spirit, who had 
led him up into the Temple '* when the parents brought in the 
child Jesus, to do for Him after the custom of the law." Then 
the aged believer to®k the Divine Babe from His mother's 
into his own arms. He felt that the faithful Lord had truly 
fulfilled His word. Content now to depart in peace, he 
blessed God from the fulness of a grateful heart, for his eyes had 
seen His salvation — "a light to lighten the Gentiles," and the 
*' glory of His people Israel." But Joseph and Mary listened, 
wondering, to the words which fell from Simeon's Hps. 

Such was the service of purification connected with the 
origin of life. Yet it was not nearly so solemn or important 
as that for the removal of defilement from contact with death. 
A stain aj;tached indeed to the spring of life, but death, which 
cast its icy shadow from the gates of Paradise to those of 
Hades, pointed to the second death, under whose ban every- 
one lay and which, if unremoved, would exercise eternal sway. 
Hence defilement by the dead was symbolically treated as the 
greatest of all. It lasted seven days ; it required a special kind of 
purification ; and it extended not only to those who had touched 
he dead, but even to the house or tent where the body had 
See Jost, vol. ii. p. 264. 



304 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

lain, and to all open vessels therein. More than that, to enter 
such a house ; to come into contact with the smallest bone, or 
with a grave ; ^ even to partake of a feast for the dead,^ 
rendered ceremonially unclean for seven days.^ Nay, he who 
was thus defiled in turn rendered everything unclean which 
he touched.^ For priests and Nazarites the law was even 
more stringent.^ The former were not to defile themselves 
by touching any dead body, except those of their nearest 
of kin ; the high-priest was not to approach even those of 
his own parents. 

In general, Jewish writers distinguish six degrees, which they 
respectively term, according to their intensity, the " fathers 
of fathers," the '' fathers," and the '' first," " second," " third," 
and ^'fourth children of defilement." They enumerate in all 
twenty-nine *' fathers of defilement," arising from various 
causes, and of these no less than eleven arise from some con- 
tact with a dead body. Hence also the law made here excep- 
tional provision for purification. " A red heifer without spot," 
that is, without any white or black hair on its hide, without 
" blemish, and on which never yoke came," was to be sacri- 
ficed as a sin-offering^ and that outside the camp, not in the 
sanctuary, and by the son of, or by the presumptive suc- 
cessor to the high-priest. The blood of this sacrifice was 
to be sprinkled ^^v^xv times with the finger, not on the 
altar, but towards the sanctuary ; then the whole animal — 
skin, flesh, blood, and dung — burned, the priest casting into 

1 According to Jewish tradition, a dead body, however deeply buried, communi- 
cated defilement all the way up to the surface, unless indeed it were vaulted in, or 
vaulted over, to cut off contact with the earth above. 

* Hos. ix. 4. 3 Numb. xix. 11-16, 18; xxxi. 19. 

* Numb. xix. 22 ; comp. Hagg. ii. 13. 

* Lev. xxi. etc. ; comp. Ezek. xliv, 25, etc. \ Numb. vi. 7, etc ^ Numb. xix. 9, 17, 



On Purifications. 305 

the midst of the burning "cedarwood, and hyssop, .and 
scarlet." The ashes of this sacrifice were to be gathered by 
** a man that is clean," and laid up " without the camp in a 
clean place." But the priest, he that burned the red heifer, and 
who gathered her ashes, were to be *' unclean until the even," 
to wash their clothes, and the two former also to " bathe," 
their *' flesh in water."^ When required for purification a clean 
person was to take of those ashes, put them in a vessel, pour 
upon them *' living water," then dip hyssop in it, and on the 
third and seventh days sprinkle him who was to be purified ; 
after which he had to wash his clothes and bathe his flesh, 
when he became '* clean " on the evening of the seventh day. 
The tent or house, and all the vessels in it, were to be similarly 
purified. Lastly, he that touched " the water of separation," 
" of avoidance," or " of uncleanness," ^ was to be unclean until 
even, and he that sprinkled it to wash his clothes.^ 

From all these provisions it is evident that as death carried 
with it the greatest defilement, so the sin-offering for its puri- 
fication was in itself and in its consequences the most marked. 
And its application must have been so frequently necessary 
in every family and circle of acquaintances that the great 
truths connected with it were constantly kept in view of the 
people. In general, it may here be stated, that the laws in 
regard to defilement were primarily intended as symbols of 
spiritual truths, and not for social, nor yet sanitary purposes, 
though such results would also flow from them. Sin had 
rendered fellowship with God impossible ; sin was death, and 
had wrought death, and the dead body as well as the spirit- 
ually dead soul were the evidence of its sway. 

1 Numb, xix. 7, 8. 

t The expression is fully discussed by Saalschiitz, Mos, ReckU^ pp. 341, 342. 

• Numb. xix. 21, 

X 



3o5 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

It has been well pointed out/ that all classes of Levitiral 
defilement can ultimately be traced back to death, with its 
two great outward symptoms, the corruption which appears in 
the skin on the surface of the body, and to which leprosy may 
be regarded as akin, and the fluxes from the dead body, 
which have their counterpart in the morbid fluxes of the living 
body. As the direct manifestation of sin which separates 
man from God, defilement by the dead required a sin-ojfering^ 
and the ashes of the red heifer are expressly so designated in 
the words : *' It is a sin-offering^^ But it differs from all other 
sin-offerings. The sacrifice was to be of pure red colour ; one 
" upon which never came yoke ; " ^ and a female, all other 
sin-offerings for the congregation being males.* These par- 
ticulars symbolically point to life in its freshness, fulness, and 
fruitfulness — that is, the fullest life and the spring of life. But 
what distinguished it even more from all others was, that it 
was a sacrifice offered once for all (at least so long as its 
ashes lasted) ; that its blood was sprinkled, not on the altar, 
but outside the camp towards the sanctuary ; and that it 
was wholly burnt, along with cedarwood, as the symbol of 
imperishable existence, hyssop, as that of purification from 
corruption, and " scarlet," which from its colour was the 
emblem of life. Thus the sacrifice of highest life, brought 
as a sin-ofifering, and, so far as possible, once for all, was in its 
turn accompanied by the symbols of imperishable existence, 
freedom from corruption, and fulness of life, so as yet more to 

* By Sommers, in his BibL Abk., vol. i. p. 201, etc. 

'* Numb. ix. 17. The Authorised Version translates, without any reason : ** It is a 
purification for sin." It seems strange indeed, that Professor Fairbaim should have 
reproduced this rendering without note or comment in his Typology, vol. ii. p. 376. 

^ The only other instance in which this is enjoined is Deut. xxi. 3, though we 
read of it again in i Sam. vi. 7. * Lev. iv. 14. 



On Purifications, 307 

intensify its significance. But even this is not all. The 
gathered ashes with running water were sprinkled on the third 
and seventh days on that which was to be purified. Assuredly, 
if death meant *' the wages of sin," this purification pointed, 
in all its details, to " the gift of God," which is " eternal life," 
through the sacrifice of Him in Whom is the fulness of life. 

And here there is a remarkable analogy between three 
sacrifices, which, indeed, form a separate group. The scape- 
goat, which was to remove the personal guilt of the Israelites 
— not their theocratic alienation from the sanctuary ; the red 
heifer, which was to take away the defilement of death, 
as that which stood between God and man ; and the " living 
bird," dipped in "the water and the blood," and then '*let 
loose in the field " at the purification from leprosy, which sym- 
bolised the living death of personal sinfulness, were all, either 
wholly offered, or in their essentials completed outside the 
sanctuary. In other words, the Old Testament dispensation 
had confessedly within its sanctuary no real provision for the 
spiritual wants to which they symbolically pointed ; their 
removal lay outside its sanctuary and beyond its symbols. 
Spiritual death, as the consequence of the fall, personal 
sinfialness, and personal guilt lay beyond the reach of the 
Temple-provision, and pointed directly to Him who was to 
come. Every death, every case of leprosy, every Day of 
Atonement, was a call for His advent, as the eye, enlightened 
by faith, would follow the goat into the wilderness, or watch 
the living bird as, bearing the mingled blood and water, he 
winged his flight into liberty, or read in the ashes sprung from 
the burning of the red heifer the emblem of purification from 
spiritual death. Hence, also, the manifest internal connection 
between these rites. In the sacrifices of the Day of Atone- 



3o8 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

ment and of the purified leper, the offering was twofold, one 
being slain, the other sent away alive, while the purification 
from leprosy and from death had also many traits in common. 
Lastly, all these sacrifices equally defiled those who took 
part in their offering,^ except in the case of leprosy, where the 
application would necessarily only be personal. Thus, also, 
we understand why the red heifer as, so to speak, the most 
intense of sin-offerings, was zvholly burnt outside the camp, 
and other sin-offerings only partially so.^ For this burning 
signified that " in the theocracy there was no one, who, by 
his own holiness, could bear or take away the sin imputed to 
these sin-offerings, so that it was needful, as the wages of sin, 
to burn the sacrifice which had been made sin." ^ The ashes 
of this sin-offering, mixed with living water and sprinkled 
with hyssop, symbolised purification from that death which 
separates between God and man. This parallelism between 
the blood of Christ and the ashes of an heifer, on the one 
hand, and on the other between the purification of the flesh 
by these means, and that of the conscience from dead works, is 
thus expressed in Heb. ix. 13, 14: "If the blood of bulls and 
of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the defiled, 
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall 
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered 
himself without spot to God, purify your conscience from 
dead works to serve the living God ? " And that this spiritual 
meaning of the types was clearly apprehended under the Old 
Testament appears, for example, from the reference to it in 
this prayer of David :* " Purge me from sin^ (purify me) with 

* Hence the high-priest was prohibited from offering the red heifer. 

' Lev. iv. II, 12, 20, etc. ^ Keil, Bibl. Archccol.^ vol. i. p. 283. ^ Psa. li. 7, 

* The Hebrew {Piel) form for " purge from sin " has no EngHsh equivalent, unless 
we were to Cviin the word '* unsin " or *' unguilt " me — remove my sin. 



On Purifications. 309 

hyssop, and I shall be clean : wash me, and I shall be whiter 
than snow," which is again further applied in what the prophet 
Isaiah says about the forgiveness of sin.^ 

This is not the place more fully to vindicate the views here 
propounded. Without some deeper symbolical meaning 
attaching to them, the peculiarities of the sin-offering of the 
red heifer would indeed be well-nigh unintelligible.^ This must 
be substantially the purport of a Jewish tradition to the effect 
that King Solomon, who knew the meaning of all God's ordi- 
nances, was unable to understand that of the red heifer. A 
" Haggadah ". maintains that the wisest of men had in Eccl. 
vii. 23 thus described his experience in this respect : " All thi's 
have I proved by wisdom," that is, all other matters ; " I said, 
I will be wise," that is, in reference to the meaning of the red 
heifer, " but it was far from me." But if Jewish traditionalism 
was thus conscious of its spiritual ignorance in regard to this 
type, it was none the less zealous in prescribing, with even 
more than usual precision, its ceremonial. The first object 
was to obtain a proper " red heifer " for the sacrifice. The 
Mishnah^ states the needful age of such a red heifer as 
from two to four and even five years ; the colour of its 
hide, two white or black hairs springing from the same follicle 
disqualifying it ; and how, if she have been put to any use, 
though only a cloth had been laid on her, she would no longer 
answer the requirement that upon her '* never came yoke." 

Even more particular are the Rabbis to secure that the sacri- 

» Isa. i. 18. 

2 It is impossible here fully to explain our views. All the more we bespeak for 
them a calm and candid examination. Christian writers in this count ly, whether 
theological or popular, have either passed over the subject, or (like Fairbairn, 
Typology^ vol. ii. p. 376) taken too superficial a view to require special notice, 

* Parahf i. ii. 



3IO The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

fice be properly offered.^ Seven days before, the priest destined 
for the service was separated and kept in the Temple — in " the 
House of Stoves" — where he was daily sprinkled with the 
ashes — as the Rabbis fable — of all the red heifers ever offered. 
When bringing the sacrifice, he was to wear his white priestly 
raiments. According to their tradition, there was an arched 
roadway leading from the east gate of the Temple out upon the 
Mount of Olives — double arched, that is, arched also over the 
supporting pillars, for fear of any possible pollution through 
the ground upwards. Over this the procession passed. On 
the Mount of Olives the elders of Israel were already in wait- 
ing. First, the priest immersed his whole body, then he 
approached the pile of cedar-, pine-, and fig-wood which was 
heaped like a pyramid, but having an opening in the middle, 
looking towards the west. Into this the red heifer was thrust, 
and bound, with its head towards the south and its face 
looking to the west, the priest standing east of the sacrifice, 
his face, of course, also turned westwards. Slaying the 
sacrifice with his right hand, he caught up the blood in his 
left. Seven times he dipped his finger in it, sprinkling it 
towards the Most Holy Place, which he was supposed to have 
in full view over the Porch of Solomon or through the 
eastern gate. Then, immediately descending, he kindled the 
fire. As soon as the flames burst forth, the priest, standing 
outside the pit in which the pile was built up, took cedarwood, 
hyssop, and ** scarlet " wool, asking three times as he held up 
each : " Is this cedarwood t Is this hyssop } Is this scarlet } " 
so as to call to the memory of everyone the Divine ordinance. 
Then tying them together with the scarlet wool, he thre.v 
the bundle upon the burning heifer. The burnt remains were 

* Farah, iii. iv. 



On Purifications. 311 

beaten into ashes by sticks or stone mallets and passed 
through coarse sieves ; then divided into three parts — one ol 
which was kept in the Temple-terrace (the Chel), the other on 
the Mount of Olives, and the third distributed among the 
priesthood throughout the land. 

The next care was to find one to whom no suspicion of 
possible defilement could attach, who might administer purifi- 
cation to such as needed it. For this purpose a priest was 
not required; but any one — even a child— was fit for the service. 
In point of fact, according to Jewish tradition, children were 
exclusively employed in this ministry. If we are to believe 
the Mishnah} there were at Jerusalem certain dwellings built 
upon rocks, that were hollowed beneath, so as to render im- 
possible pollution from unknown graves beneath. Here the 
children destined for this ministry were to be born, and here 
they were reared and kept till fit for their service. Pecu- 
liar precautions were adopted in leading them out to their 
work. The child was to ride on a bullock, and to mount and 
descend it by boards. He was first to proceed to the pool of 
Siloam^ and to fill a stone cup with its water, and thence to 
ride to the Temple Mount, which, with all its courts, was also 
supposed to be free from possible pollutions by being hollowed 
beneath. Dismounting, he would approach the ** Beautiful 
Gate," where the vessel with the ashes of the red heifer was 
kept. Next a goat would be brought out, and a rope, with a 
stick attached to it, tied between its horns. The stick was 
put into the vessel with the ashes, the goat driven backwards, 
and of the ashes thereby spilt the child would take for use in 
the sacred service so much as to be visible upon the water. 

^ Parah^ iii. 2-5. 

* Or Gihon. According to Jewish tradition, the kings were always anointed 
at Siloam (i Kings L 33, 38). 



312 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

It is only fair to add, that one of the Mishnic sages, depreca- 
ting a statement which might be turned into ridicule by the 
Sadducees, declares that any clean person might take with 
his hand from the vessel so much of the ashes as was required 
for the service. The purification was made by sprinkling with 
hyssop. According to the Rabbis,^ three separate stalks, each 
with a blossom on it, were tied together, and the tip of these 
blossoms dipped into the water of separation, the hyssop itself 
being grasped while sprinkling the unclean. The same autho- 
rities make the almost incredible assertion that altogether, from 
the time of Moses to the final destruction of the Temple, only 
seven, or else nine, such red heifers had been offered : the first 
by Moses, the second by Ezra, and the other five, or else seven, 
between the time of Ezra and that of the taking of Jerusalem 
by the Romans. We only add that the cost of this sacrifice, 
which was always great, since a pure red heifer was very rare,^ 
was defrayed from the Temple treasury, as being offered for the 
whole people.^ Those who lived in the country would, for 
purification from defilement by the dead, come up to Jerusalem 
seven days before the great festivals, and, as part of the ashes 
were distributed among the priesthood, there could never be 
any difficulty in purifying houses or vessels. 

2. After what has already been explained, it is not neces- 
sary to enter into details about the purijication of the leper ^ for 

^ Parak^ xi. 9. 

* It might be purchased even from non-Israelites, and the Talmud relates a 
curious story, showing at the same time the reward of filial piety, and the/adtilous 
amount which it is supposed such a red heifer might fetch. 

3 Philo erroneously states that the high-priest was sprinkled with it each time 
before ministering at the altar. The truth is, he was only so sprinkled in preva»*a- 
tion for the Day of Atonement, in case he might have been unwittingly defiled. 
Is the Romish use of *'holy water" derived from Jewish purificatioits or from the 
Greek heathen practice of sprinkling on entering a temple? 



On Pttrifications. 313 

which this, indeed, is not the place. Leprosy was not merely 
the emblem of sin, but of death, to which, so to speak, 
it stood related, as does our actual sinfulness to our state of 
sin and death before God. Even a Rabbinical saying ranks 
lepers with those who may be regarded as dead.^ They 
were excluded from " the camp of Israel," by which, in later 
times, the Talmudists understood all cities walled since the 
days of Joshua, who was supposed to have sanctified them. 
Lepers were not allowed to go beyond their proper bounds, 
on pain of forty stripes. For, every place which a leper 
entered was supposed to be defiled. They were, however, 
admitted to the synagogues, where a place was railed off for 
them, ten handbreadths high and four cubits wide, on condi- 
tion of their entering the house of worship before the rest 
of the congregation, and leaving it after them.^ It was but 
natural that they should consort together. This is borne out 
by such passages as Luke xvii. 12, which at the same time 
show how even this living death vanished at the word or the 
touch of the Saviour. 

The Mishnic tractate, Negainty enters into most wearisome 
details on the subject of leprosy, as affecting persons or things. 
It closes by describing the ceremonial at its purification. The 
2i,qXm2\ judgment as to the existence of leprosy always belonged 
to the priest, though he might consult any one who had know- 
ledge of the matter. Care was to be taken that no part 
of the examination fell on the Sabbath, nor was any on 
whom the taint appeared to be disturbed either during his 
marriage week, or on feast days.^ Great precautions were 
taken to render the examination thorough. It was not to be 

^ The other three classes are the blind, the poor, and those who have no 
children. * Negaim, xiii. I2, ^ j^egaim, i. 4 ; iii. 2. 



314 The Temple y its Ministry and Services. 

proceeded with early in the morning, nor " between the even- 
ings," nor inside the house, nor on a cloudy day, nor yet 
during the glare of mid-day, but from 9 A.M. to 12 o'clock 
noon, and from i P.M. to 3 P.M. ; according to Rabbi 
Jehudah, only at 10 or 11 o'clock A.M., and at 2 and 3 o'clock 
P.M. The examining priest must neither be blind of an eye, 
nor impaired in sight, nor might he pronounce as to the leprosy 
of his own kindred.^ For further caution, judgment was not 
to be pronounced at the same time about two suspicious spots, 
whether on the same or on different persons.^ 

A very curious mistake by writers on typology here requires 
passing notice. It is commonly supposed^ that Lev. xiii. 12, 13, 
refers to cases of true leprosy, so that if a person had pre- 
sented himself covered with leprosy over "all his flesh," *'from 
his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh," the 
priest was to pronounce : '' he is clean." If this interpretation 
were correct, the priest would have had to declare what was 
simply untrue ! And, mark, it is not a question about cleansing 
one who had been a leper, but about declaring such an one 
clean, that is, not a leper at all, while yet the malady covered 
his whole body from head to foot ! Nor does even the doc- 
trinal analogy, for the sake of which this strange view must 
have been adopted, hold good. For to confess oneself, or 
even to present oneself as wholly covered by the leprosy of 
sin, is not yet to be cleansed — that requires purification by 
the blood of Christ. Moreover, the Old Testament type 
speaks of being clean^ not of cleansing ; of being non-leprous, 

^ Negaim^ ii. 2, 3, 5. 2 2^egaim, iii. I. 

* All popular writers on typology have fallen into this error. Even the learned 
Lightfoot has committed it. It is also adopted by Mr. Poole in Smith's Diet of the 
BibleX\\. p. 94), and curiously accounted for by the altogether unfounded hypothesis 
that the law ** imposed segregation " only ** while the disease manifested ac^^ivity I " 



On Purifications, 315 

not of being purified from leprosy ! The correct interpreta- 
tion of Lev. xiii. 12, 13 evidently is, that an eruption having 
the symptoms there described is not that of true leprosy at alL^ 
But where, in the Divine mercy, one really leprous had been 
restored, the law^ defined what was to be done for his " puri- 
fication." The rites are, in fact, twofold— the first,^ to restore 
him to fellowship with the congregation ; the other to intro- 
duce him anew to communion with God.* In both respects 
he had been dead, and was alive again ; and the new life, so 
consecrated, was one higher than the old could ever have 
been. 

This will appear from an attentive study of the ceremonial of 
purification, as described in the Mishnah} The priest having 
pronounced the former leper clean, a quarter of a log (the log 
rather less than a pint) of " living water " was poured into an 
earthenware dish. Then two " clean birds *' were taken — the 
Rabbis say two sparrows^ — of whom one was killed over "the 
living water," so that the blood might drop into it, after 
which the carcass was buried. Next, cedar-wood, hyssop, 
and scarlet wool were taken and tied together (as at the burn- 
ing of the red heifer), and dipped, along with the living bird, 
which was seized by the tips of his wings and of his tail, into 
the blood-stained water, when the person to be purified was 
sprinkled seven times on the back of his hand, or, according, 

^ Even the modified view of Keil, which is substantially adopted in Kitto's 
Encycl. (3rd edit.), p. 812, that the state described in Lev. xii. 12, 13, "was re- 
garded as indicative of the crisis, as the whole evil matter thus brought to the 
surface formed itself into a scale, which dried and peeled oif," does not meet the 
requirements of the text. 

* Lev. xiv. 3 Ley^ ^iv. 1-9. 

* Lev. xiv. 10-20. * Negaim, xiii. 

® May not our Saviour refer to this when He speaks of " sparrows " as of market-' 
able value : ** Are not two sparrows sold for one farthing" (Matt. x. 29) ? 



3i6 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

to others, on his forehead. Upon this the living bird was set 
free, neither towards the sea, nor towards the city, nor towards 
the wilderness, but towards the fields. Finally, the leper had 
all the hair on his body shorn with a razor, after which he 
washed his clothes, and bathed, when he was clean, though 
still interdicted his house ^ for seven days. 

The first stage of purification had now been completed, and 
the seven days' seclusion served as preparation for the second 
stage. The former might take place anywhere, but the latter 
required the attendance of the purified leper in the sanctuary. 
It began on the seventh day itself, when the purified leper had 
again all his hair shorn, as at the first, washed his clothes, and 
bathed. The Mishiah remarks^ that three classes required 
this legal tonsure of all hair — lepers, Nazarites, and the 
Levites at their consecration — a parallel this between the 
purified lepers and the Levites, which appears even more 
clearly in their being anointed on the head with oil,^ and which 
was intended to mark that their new life was higher than the 
old, and that, like Levi, they were to be specially dedicated 
to God.^ Though not of any special importance, we may add 
that, according to the Mishiah, as in the analogous case of 
the two goats for the Day of Atonement, the two birds for the 
leper were to be of precisely the same colour, size, and value, 
and, if possible, bought on the same day — to mark that the 
two formed integral parts of one and the same service; the 
cedar-wood was to be one cubit long and " the quarter of a 
bedpost " thick ; the hyssop of the common kind, that is, not 
such as had any other bye-name, as Grecian, Roman, orna- 
mental, or wild ; while the scarlet wool was to be a shekel's 

* The Mishnah and all commentators apply this to conjugal intercourse. 

* Negaim xiv. 4. ^ Lev. xiv. 29. 

* The significance of anointing the head with oil is sufficiently knowxL 



Oft Purifications. 317 

weight. The rest of the ceremonial we give in the words of 

the Mishnah itself^: — "On the eighth day the leper brings 

three sacrifices — a sin-, a trespass-, and a burnt-offering, and 

the poor brings a sin- and a burnt-offering of a bird. He 

stands before the trespass-offering, lays his hands upon it, 

and kills it. Two priests catch up the blood — one in a vessel, 

the other in his hand. He who catches it up in the vessel goes 

and throws it on the side of the altar, and he who catches it 

in his hand goes and stands before the leper. And the leper 

who had previously bathed in the court of the lepers, goes 

and stands in the gate of Nicanor. Rabbi Jehudah says : — 

He needs not to bathe. He thrusts in his head (viz., into 

the great court which he may not yet enter), and the priest 

puts of the blood upon the tip of his ear ; he thrusts in his 

hand, and he puts it upon the thumb of his hand ; he thrusts 

in his foot, and he puts it upon the great toe of his foot. Rabbi 

Jehudah says : — He thrusts in the three at the same time. 

If he have lost his thumb, great toe, or right ear, he cannot 

ever be cleansed. Rabbi Eliezer says : — The priest puts it 

on the spot where it had been. Rabbi Simeon says : — If it 

be applied on the corresponding left side of the leper's body, 

it sufficeth. The priest now takes from the log of oil and 

pours it into the palm of his colleague — though, if he poured 

it into his own it were valid. He dips his finger and sprinkles 

seven times towards the Holy of Holies, dipping each time he 

sprinkles. He goes before the leper ; and on the spot where 

he had put the blood he puts the oil, as it is written, * upon 

the blood of the trespass-offering.' And the remnant of the 

oil that is in the priest's hand, he pours on the head of him 

that is to be cleansed, for an atonement ; if he so puts it, he is 

* Negaifn^ xiv. 7, etc. 



3i8 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

atoned for, but if not, he is not atoned for. So Rabbi Akiba. 
Rabbi Jochanan, the son of Nuri, saith : — This is only the 
remnant of the ordinance — whether it is done or not, the 
atonement is made ; but they impute it to him (the priest ?) 
as if he had not made atonement." 

3. It still remains to describe the peculiar ceremonial con- 
nected with the purification of a wife from the suspicion of 
adultery. Strictly speaking, there was no real offering con- 
nected with this. The rites ^ consisted of two parts, in the first of 
which the woman in her wave-offering solemnly commended 
her ways to the Holy Lord God of Israel, thus professing 
innocence ; while in the second, she intimated her readiness 
to abide the consequences of her profession and appeal to 
God. Both acts were symbolical, nor did either of them 
imply anything like an ordeal The meat-offering which 
she brought in her hand symbolised her works, the fruit of 
her life. But owing to the fact that her life was open to 
suspicion, it was brought, not of wheat, as on other occa- 
sions, but of barley-flour, which constituted the poorest 
fare, while, for the same reason, the customary addition of 
oil and frankincense was omitted. Before this offering was 
waved and part of it burned on the altar, the priest had to 
^v^xn the woman of the terrible consequences of a false pro- 
fession before the Lord, and to exhibit what he spoke in a 
symbolical act. He wrote the words of the curse upon a 
roll ; then, taking water out of the laver, in which the daily 
impurities of the priests were, so to speak, symbolically 
cleansed, and putting into it dust of the sanctuary, he washed 
in this mixture the writing of the curses, which were de- 
nounced upon the special sin of v/hich she was suspected. 

^ Numb. V. U-31. 



On Purifications. 319 

And the woman, having by a repeated Amen testified that 
she had quite apprehended the meaning of the whole, and 
that she made her solemn appeal to God, was then in a 
symbolical act to do two things. First, she presented in her 
meat-offering, which the priest waved, her life to the heart- 
searching God, and then, prepared for the consequences of 
her appeal, she drank the bitter mixture of the threatened 
curses, assured that it could do no harm to her who was 
innocent, whereas, if guilty, she had appealed to God^ judg- 
ment would certainly at some time overtake her, and that in 
a manner corresponding to the sin which she had committed. 
According to the Mishnah^ which devotes to this subject 
a special tractate {Sotah), a wife could not be brought to this 
solemn trial unless her husband have previously warned her, 
in presence of two witnesses, against intercourse with one 
whom he suspected, and also two witnesses had reported that 
she had contravened his injunction. The Rabbis, moreover, 
insist that the command must have been express, that it only 
applied to intercourse out of reach of public view, and that 
the husband's charge to his wife before witnesses should be 
preceded by private and loving admonition.^ But if, after all 
this, she had left such warning unheeded, her husband had 
first to bring her before the Sanhedrim of his own place, 
who would dispatch two of their scholars with the couple to 
Jerusalem, where they were to appear before ths;' Great 
Sanhedrim. The first endeavour of that tribunal wa*» to 
bring the accused by any means to make confessioi^* If she 
did so, she only lost what her husband had settled upon her, 

* The tractate Sotah enters into every possible detail, with prurient casuistry 
— the tendency, as always in Jewish criminal law, being in favour of the 
accused. 



320 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

but retained her own portion.^ If she persisted in her inno 
cence, she was brought through the eastern gate of the 
Temple, and placed at the gate of Nicanor, where the 
priest tore off her dress to her bosom, and dishevelled her 
hair. If she wore a white dress, she was covered with black ; 
if she had ornaments, they were taken from her, and a rope 
put round her neck. Thus she stood, exposed to the gaze of 
all, except her own parents. All this to symbolise the 
Scriptural warning : ^ " Therefore I will measure their former 
work into their bosom,'* for in what had been her pride and 
her temptation she was now exposed to shame. The priest 
was to write, in ink, Numb. v. 19-22, of course leaving out the 
introductory clauses in verses 19 and 21, and the conclud- 
ing '* Amen." The woman's double response of Amen bore 
reference first to her innocence, and secondly to the threatened 
curse. The waving of the woman's offering was done in the 
usual manner, but opinions differ whether she had to drink 
" the bitter water " before or after part of her offering had been 
burned on the altar. If before the writing was washed into 
the water she refused to take the test, her offering was 
scattered among the ashes ; similarly, if she confessed herself 
guilty. But if she insisted on her innocence after the writing 
was washed, she was forced to drink the water. The Divine 
judgment was supposed to overtake the guilty sooner or later, 
as some thought, according to their other works. The wave- 
offering belonged to the priest, except where the suspected 
woman was the wife of a priest, in which case the offering 

^ According to Rabbinical law adulteresses only suffered death if they persisted 
in the actual crime after having been warned of the consequences by two witnesses. 
It is evident that this canon must have rendered the infliction of the death penalty 
the rarest exception — indeed, almost inconceivable. 

• Isaiah Ixv. 7, 



On Purifications. 321 

was burned.^ If a husband were deaf or insane, or in prison, 
the magistrates of the place would act in his stead in insisting 
on a woman clearing herself of just suspicion. An adulteress 
was prohibited from living with her seducer. It is beside our 
purpose further to enter into the various legal determinations 
of the Misknah. But it is stated that, with the decline of 
morals in Palestine, the trial by the *' water of jealousy" 
gradually ceased (in accordance with what we read in Hos. iv. 
14), till it was finally abolished by Rabbi Jochanan, the son of 
Zacchai, some time after the death of our Lord.^ While re- 
cording this fact the Mishnah ^ traces, in bitter language, the 
decay and loss of what had been good and precious to Israel 
in their worship, Temple, wisdom, and virtues, pointing for- 
ward to the yet greater sorrow of "the last day," "shortly 
before the coming of Messiah/' when all authority, obedience, 
and fear of God would decline in the earth, and " our only 
hope and trust" could spring from looking up to our heavenly 
Father. Yet beyond it stands out, in the closing words of this 
tractate in the Mishnahy the final hope of a revival, of the 
gift of the Holy Spirit, and of the blessed resurrection, all 
connected with the long-expected ministry of Elijah ! 

^ The Mishnah defines particularly the cases in which the trial by bitter waters 
was inapplicable. 

2 Not, as Dr. Farrar states (The Life of Christy ii. 65) long before it. He 
regards the decay of morals at the time of Christ as so universal and great, that 
among the accusers of the woman taken in adultery there was not one '* free from 
the taint of this class of sins." I am thankful to say, that so sweeping a charge is 
not in anywise borne out by historical evidence. 

' Sotah^ ix. 9-15, 



CHAPTER XIX. 

ON VOWS. 

THE NAZARITE'S VOW — ^THE OFFERING OF FIRST-FRUITS IN THE TEMPLE. 

** But now is Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruits of them that sleep." 
. . . . "These were purchased from among men — the first-fruits unto 
God and to the Lamb."--i CoR. xV. 20 ; Rev. xiv. 4. 

" TF a man vow a vow unto Jehovah, or swear an oath 
-L to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not pro- 
fane his word ; he shall do according to all that hath 
proceeded out of his mouth." ^ These words establish the 
lawfulness of vows, define their character, and declare their 
inviolableness. At the outset a distinction is here made 
between a positive and a negative vow, an undertaking and 
a renunciation, a Neder and an Issar, In the former *'a 
man vowed a vow unto Jehovah" — that is, he consecrated 
unto Him some one or more persons or things, which he ex- 
pressly designated ; in the latter he " swore an oath to bind 
his soul with a bond " — that is, he renounced the use of cer- 
tain things, binding himself to abstinence from them. The 
renunciation of the fruit of the vine would seem to place the 
Nazarite's vow in the class termed Issar. But, on the other 
hand, there was, as in the case of Samson and Samuel, also 

^ Numb. XXX. 2, 



On Vows. 323 

such positive dedication to the Lord, and such other provisions 
as seem to make the Nazarite's the vow of vows — that is, the 
full carrying out of the idea of a vow, alike in its positive 
and negative aspects — being, in fact, a voluntary and entire 
surrender unto Jehovah, such as, in its more general bearing, 
the Aaronic priesthood had been intended to express. 

It lies on the surface, that all vows were limited by 
higher obhgations. A man could not have vowed anything 
that was not fairly his own ; hence, according to the 
Mishnah^ neither what of his fortune he owed to others, nor his 
widow's portion, nor yet what already of right belonged unto 
the Lord ; ^ nor might he profane the Temple by bringing to 
the altar the reward of sin or of unnatural crime.^ Similarly, 
the Rabbinical law declared any vow of abstinence ipso 
facto invalid, if it interfered with the preservation of life or 
similar obligations, and it allowed divorce to a woman if her 
husband's vow curtailed her liberty or her rights. On this 
ground it was that Christ showed the profaneness of the tradi- 
tional law, which virtually sanctioned transgression of the 
command to honour father and mother, by pronouncing over 
that by which they might have been profited the magic word 
CorbaUy which dedicated it to the Temple.^ In general, the 
Rabbinical ordinances convey the impression, on the one hand, 
of a desire to limit the obligation of vows, and, on the other, of 
extreme strictness where a vow had really been made. Thus a 
vow required to have been expressly spoken, yet if the words 
used had been even intentionally so chosen as afterwards to 
open a way of escape, or were such as connected themselves 
with the common form of a vow, they conveyed its obliga- 

1 Numb. XXX. 26-28. 

2 This is undoubtedly the meaning of th« expression "price of a dog" in 
Deut. xxiii. 18. ^ Mark vii. 11-13. 



324 The Temple^ its Ministry and Services, 

tions. In all such cases goods might be distrained to secure 
the performance of the vow ; the law, however, providing 
that the recusant was to be allowed to retain food for a 
month, a year's clothing, his beds and bedding, and, if an 
artisan, his necessary tools. In the case of women, a father 
or husband had the right to annul a vow, provided he did so 
immediately on hearing it.^ All persons vowed unto the Lord 
had to be redeemed according to a certain scale ; which, 
in the case of the poor, was to be so lowered as to bring 
It within reach of their means.^ Such " beasts " " whereof 
men bring an offering,*' went to the altar ; all others, as well 
as any other thing dedicated, was to be valued by the priest, 
and might be redeemed on payment of the price, together 
with one-fifth additional, or else was sold for behoof of the 
Temple treasury.^ How carefully the law guarded against 
all profanity, or from the attempt to make merit out of 
what should have been the free outgoing of believing hearts, 
appears from Deut. xxiii. 22-24, Lev. xxvii. 9, 10, and such 
statements as Pro v. xx. 25. As Scriptural instances of 
vows, we may mention that of Jacob,* the rash vow of 
Jephthah,^ the vow of Hannah,^ the pretended vow of Absalom,^ 
and the vows of the sailors who cast Jonah overboard.^ On 
the other hand, it will be understood how readily, in times of 
religious declension, vows might be turned from their proper 
object to purposes contrary to the Divine mind.^ 

* Numb. XXX. 3-8. 

2 Lev. xxvii. 2-8. The Mishnak declares that this scale was only applicable, if 
express reference had been made to it in the vr w ; otherwise the price of redemp- 
tion was, what the person would have fetched if sold in the market as a slave. 

* Lev. xMvii. 11-27. ^ Gen. xxviii. 20. ^ Judges xi. 30, 31. 

• I Sam. i. II. "^2 Sam. xv. 7, 8. ^ Jon. i. 16. 

• lu general the later legislation of the Rabbis was intended to discourage vows, 



On Vows. 325 

In the latter times of the Temple such vows, made either 
thoughtlessly, or from Pharisaical motives, became painfully fre- 
quent, and called forth protests on the part of those who viewed 
them in a more reverent and earnest spirit. Thus it is said,^ that 
the high-priest, Simeon the Just— to whom tradition ascribes so 
much that is good and noble — declared that he had uniformly 
refused, except in one instance, to partake of the trespass-offer- 
ing of Nazarites, since such vows were so often made rashly, 
and the sacrifice was afterwards offered reluctantly, not with 
pious intent A fair youth, with beautiful hair, had presented 
himself for such a vow, with whom the high-priest had ex- 
postulated : *'My son, what could have induced thee to destroy 
such splendid hair ? '* To which the youth replied : '' I fed my 
father's flock, and as I was about to draw water for it from a 
brook, I saw my wraith, and the evil spirit seized and would 
have destroyed me (probably by vanity). Then I exclaimed : 
Miserable fool, why boastest thou in a possession which does 
not belong to thee, who art so soon to be the portion of maggots 
and worms. By the Temple ! I cut off my hair, to devote 
it to God." *' Upon this," said Simeon^ " I rose and kissed 
him on the forehead, saying, Oh that many in Israel were 
like thee ! Thou hast truly, and in the spirit of the law, 
made this vow according to the will of God." 

That great abuses crept in appears even from the large 
numbers who took them. Thus the Talmud records that, 



on account of their frequent abuse (Nedar. i., iii., ix.). It was declared that only 
evil-doers bound themselves in this manner, while the pious gave of their own free- 
will. Where a vow affected the interests of others, every endeavour was to be 
made, to get him who had made it, to seek absolution from its obligations, which 
might be had from one '*sage," or from three persons, in the presence of him who 
had been affected by the vow. Further particulars are beyond our present scope. 
^ See the Talmudical story in Jost, vol. i. pp. 171, 172 



326 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

in the days of King Jannai no fewer than 300 Nazarites 
presented themselves before Simeon, the son of Shetach. 
Moreover, a sort of traffic in good works, Hke that in the 
Romish Church before the Reformation, was carried on. It 
was considered meritorious to '* be at charges" for poor 
Nazarites, and to defray the expenses of their sacrifices. 
King Agrippa, on arriving at Jerusalem, seems to have done 
this to conciliate popular favour.^ A far holier motive than 
this influenced St. Paul,^ when, to remove the prejudices 
of Jewish Christians, he was "at charges*' for four poor 
Christian Nazarites, and joined them, as it were, in their vow 
by taking upon himself some of its obligations, as, indeed, 
he was allowed to do by the traditional law. 

I. The law concerning the Nazarite vow^ seems to imply, 
that it had been an institution already existing at the time of 
Moses, which was only further defined and regulated by him. 
The name, as well as its special obligations, indicate its higher 
bearing. For the term Nazir is evidently derived from nazar^ 
to separate, and "the vow of a Nazarite" was to separate himself 
unto Jehovah.* Hence the Nazarite was "holy unto Jehovah.^" 
In the sense of separation the term Nazir was applied to 
Joseph,^ and so the root is frequently used. But, besides sepa- 
ration and holiness, we have also here the idea of royal priesU 
hoody since the word Nezer is applied to "the holy crown upon 
the mitre " of the high-priest,^ and " the crown of the anoint- 
ing oil," ^ as also, in a secondary sense, to the royal crov^^n.^ 

^ Jos., Antiq. xix. 6, I. * Acts xxi. 23, etc ' Numb. vi. 

* Numb. vi. 2. ^ Numb. vi. 8. 

® Gen. xlix. 26; comp. Deut. xxxii. 16. 

' Ex. xxix. 6; xxxix. 30; Lev. viii. 9. ^ Lev. xxi. 12. 

^ 2 Sam. i. 10 ; 2 Kings xi. 12 ; Zech. ix. 16. The learned writer of the 
article ** Nazarite '* in Kitto's EncycL regards the meaning " diadem " as the funda- 



On Vows. 327 

We have, therefore, in the Nazarite, the three ideas of separa- 
tion, holiness, and the crown of the royal priesthood, all closely- 
connected. With this agree the threefold obligations incum- 
bent on a Nazarite. He was to be not only a priest, but one in 
a higher and more intense sense, since he became such by 
personal consecration instead of by mere bodily descent. If the 
priest was to abstain from wine during his actual ministration 
in the sanctuary, the Nazarite must during the whole period 
of his vow refrain from all that belongs to the fruit of the 
vine, ** from the kernels even to the husk." ^ A priest was to 
avoid all defilement from the dead, except in the case of his 
nearest relatives, but the Nazarite, like the high-priest,^ was 
to ignore in that respect even father and mother, brother and 
sister.^ Nay more, if unwittingly he had become so defiled, the 
time of his vow, which had already elapsed, was to count for 
nothing ; after the usual seven days' purification,* he was to 
cut off his hair, which, in that case, was buried, not burnt, 
and on the eighth day to bring two turtle-doves, or two 
young pigeons, the one for a sin-, the other for a burnt-offering, 
with a lamb of the first year for a trespass-offering ; after 
which he had to commence his Nazarite vow anew. Lastly, if 
the high-priest wore " the holy Nezer upon the mitre,'* the 
Nazarite was not to cut his hair, which was " the Nezer of his 

mental one, following in this the somewhat unsafe critical guidance of Saalschiitz, 
Mos. Recht.f p. 158. In proof, he appeals to the circumstance that the *' undressed 
vine " of the Sabbatical and the Jubilee year is designated by the term ** Nazir " in 
Lev. XXV. 5, II. But evidently the uncut, untrimmed vine of those years derived 
its designation from the Nazarite with his untrimmed hair, and not mce versd^ 
Some of the Rabbis have imagined, that the vine had grown in Paradise, and that 
somehow the Nazarite's abstinence from its fruit was connected with the paradisi- 
acal state, and with our fall. 

1 Numb. vi. 3, 4. ^ Lev. xxi. II. ' Numb. vL 7. 

* Numb. xix. Il, 12. 



328 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

God upon his head/'^ And this use of the word Nezer, as 
applied to the high-priest's crown, as well as to the separation 
unto holiness of the Nazarite, casts additional light alike upon 
the object of the priesthood and the character of the Nazarite 
vow. 

According to the Mishnah^ all epithets of, or allusions to, 
the Nazarite vow, carried its obligation. Thus if one said, 
** I will be it ! or, I will be a beautiful one ! " — with reference 
to the long hair — or made any similar allusion, he had legally 
taken upon him the vow. If taken for an indefinite period, 
or without express declaration of the time, the vow lasted for 
thirty days, which was the shortest possible time for a 
Nazarite. There were, however, "perpetual Nazarites/' the 
Mishnah distinguishing between an ordinary "perpetual 
Nazarite " and a " Samson-Nazarite," Both were " for life," but 
the former was allowed occasionally to shorten his hair, after 
which he brought the three sacrifices. He could also be defiled 
by the dead, in which case he had to undergo the prescribed 
purification. But as Samson had not been allowed under any 
circumstances to poll his hair, and as he evidently had come 
into contact with death without afterwards undergoing any 
ceremonial,^ so the Samson-Nazarite might neither shorten his 
hair, nor could he be defiled by the dead. However, practically 
such a question probably never arose, and the distinction was 
no doubt merely made to meet an exegetical necessity to the 
Jews, — that of vindicating the conduct of Samson! As already 
stated, another might undertake part or the whole of the 

* Numb. vL 7. 

* Tractate Nazir, We again omit such details, which, though important as legal 
determinations, would not advance our knowledge as to the mode in which the 
Nazarite was discharged of his vow in the Temple. 

3 Judges xiv. 8 ; xv. 15* 



On Vows. 329 

charges of a Nazarite, and thus share in his vow.^ A father, 
but not a mother, might make a Nazarite vow for a son, while 
he was under the legal age of thirteen. The Mishnali^ discusses 
at great length the three things interdicted to a Nazarite : " de- 
filement, cutting the hair, and whatever proceedeth from the 
vine." Any wilful trespass in these respects, provided the 
Nazarite had been expressly warned, carried the punishment 
of stripes, and that for every individual act of which he had 
been so warned. 

To prevent even the accidental removal of hair, the Rabbis 
forbade the use of a comb.^ According to the Law, defilement 
from death annulled the previous time of the vow, and necessi- 
tated certain offerings. To this the Mishnah adds, that if 
anyhow the hair were cut, it annulled the previous time of a 
vow up to thirty days (the period of an indefinite vow), while 
it is curiously determined that the use of anything coming 
from the vine did not interrupt the vow. Another Rabbinical 
contravention of the spirit of the law was to allow Nazarites 
the use of all intoxicating liquors other than what came from 
the vine (such as palm- wine, etc.). Lastly, the Mishnah 
determines ^ that a master could not annul the Nazarite vow 
of his slave ; and that, if he prevented him from observing it, 
the slave was bound to renew it on attaining his liberty. The 
off'erings of a Nazarite on the completion of his vow are 
explicitly described in Numb. vi. 13-21. Along with the 
"ram without blemish for peace-offerings," he had to bring 
" a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with 
oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil," as well 
as the ordinary '* meat-offering and their drink-offerings." » 

1 Naz. ii. 5, 6. « J^az, vi. ^ J^az. vi. 3. 

* Naz, IX. I. * Numb, vi. 14, 15. 



330 The Temphy its Ministry and Services. 

The Rabbis explain, that the *' unleavened bread," to accom- 
pany ** the peace-offerings/' was to be made of six-tenth deals 
and two-thirds of a tenth deal of flour, which were to be baked 
into ten unleavened cakes and ten unleavened wafers, all 
anointed with the fourth part of a log of oil ; and that all this 
*' bread " was to be offered in one vessel, or " basket." ^ The 
sin-offering was first brought, then the burnt-, and last of all 
the peace-offering. In the Court of the Women there was a 
special Nazarite's chamber. After the various sacrifices had 
been offered by the priest, the Nazarite retired to this 
chamber, where he boiled the flesh of his peace-offerings, cut 
off his hair, and threw it in the fire under the caldron. If he 
had already cut off his hair before coming to Jerusalem, he 
must still bring it with him, and cast it in the fire under the 
caldron ; so that whether or not we understand Acts xviii. i8, 
as stating that Paul himself had taken a vow, he might have 
cut off his hair at Cenchrea,^ and brought it with him to Jeru- 
salem. After that the priest waved the offering, as detailed 
in Numb. vi. 19, 20,*^ and the fat was salted, and burned 
upon the altar. The breast, the fore-leg, the boiled shoulder, 
and the waved cake and wafer, belonged to the priests — the 
remaining bread and meat were eaten by the Nazarite. 
Lastly, the expression, " besides that that his hand shall get," 
after mention of the other offerings,* seems to imply that the 
Nazarites were also wont to bring free-will offerings. 

Scripture mentions three Nazarites for life : Samson, 
Samuel, and John the Baptist, to which Christian tradition 
adds the name of James the Just, ''the brother of the Lord," 

^ Comp. the quotations from Maimonides in the article ** Nazarite," in Kitto's 
Cycl. * Acts xviii. i8. 

3 This part of the service was the same as at the consecration of the pnests 
(Lev. viii. 26). * Numb, vi. 21. 



On Vows. 331 

who presided over the Church at Jerusalem when Paul joined 
in the Nazarite-offering.^ In this respect it is noteworthy, 
that, among those who urged upon Paul to " be at charges " 
with the four Christian Nazarites, James himself is not 
specially mentioned.^ 

2. Properly speaking, the offering of the first-fruits belonged 
to the class of religious and charitable contributions, and 
falls within our present scope only in so far as certain of them 
had to be presented in the Temple at Jerusalem. Two of 
these first-fruit offerings were public and natioital ; viz., the 
first omer^ on the second day of the Passover, and the wave- 
loaves at Pentecost The other two kinds of ^^ first-fruits " — 
or Reshith, " the first, the beginning " — were offered on the 
part of each family and of every individual who had possession 
in Israel, according to the Divine directions in Ex. xxii. 29 ; 
xxiii. 19; xxxiv. 26; Numb. xv. 20, 21; xviii. 12, 13; 
Deut. xviii. 4; and Deut. xxvi. 2 — ii, where the ceremonial 
to be observed in the Sanctuary is also described. Autho- 
rities distinguish between the Biccurijn {pri^nitiva), or first- 
fruits offered in their natural state, and the Terumoth 
{pri7nitice)y brought not as raw products, but in a prepared 
state, — as flour, oil, wine, etc.^ The distinction is convenient, 
but not strictly correct, since the Terumoth also included 
vegetables and garden produce. (Ter, ii. 5 ; iii. I ; x. 5). 
Still less accurate is the statement of modern writers that 
the Greek term Protogennemata corresponds to Biccurim, 
and Aparchai to Terumoth^ an assertion not even supported 

1 Eusebius, Eccl Hist. ii. 23, 3. * Acts. xxi. 20-25. 

3 In our Authorised Version **Terumah" is generally rendered by ** heave- 
offering," as in Ex. xxix. 27 ; Lev. vii. 14, 32, 34; Numb. xv. 19; xviii. 8, ii; 
xxxi. 41 ; and sometimes simply by "offering," as in Ex. xxv. 2 ; xxx. 13 ; xxxv, 
5 ; xxxvi. 3, 6 ; Lev. xxii. 12 ; Numb. v. 9. 



332 The Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

by the use of those words in the version of the Septuag^int, 
which is so deeply tinged with traditionalism. 

Adopting, however, the distinction of the terms, for con- 
venience sake, we find that the Bicciirim {primitiva), were only 
to be brought while there was a national Sanctuary.^ Simi- 
larly, they must be the produce of the Holy Land itself, in 
which, according to tradition, were included the ancient 
territories of Og and Sihon, as well as that part of Syria which 
David had subjugated. On the other hand, both the tithes* 
and the Terumoth were also obligatory on Jews in Egypt, 
Babylon, Ammon, and Moab. The Biccurim were only pre- 
sented in the Temple, and belonged to the priesthood there 
officiating at the time, while the Terumoth might be given to 
any priest in any part of the land. The Mishnah holds that, 
as according to Deut. viii. 8 only the following seven were to 
be regarded as the produce of the Holy Land, from them 
alone Biccurim were due : viz., wheat, barley, grapes, figs, 
pomegranates, olives, and dates.^ If the distance of the 
offerer from Jerusalem was too great, the figs and grapes 
might be brought in a dried state. 

The amount of the Biccurim was not fixed in the Divine 
law, any more than of the wheat which was to be left in the 
corners of the fields in order to be gleaned by the poor.* But 

^ Ex. xxiii. 19 ; Deut. xxvi. 2 ; Neh. x. 35. 

2 The Mishnah {Bice, i. lo) expressly mentions ** the olive-trees beyond Jordan," 
although R. Joses declared that Biccurim were not brought from East of Jordan, 
since it was not a land flowing with milk and honey (Deut. xxvi. 15) ! 

3 The expression " honey *' in Deut viii. 8 must refer to the produce of the 
date-palm. 

* The Mishnah enumerates five things of which the amount is not fixed in the 
law {Peah i. 1) : the comers of the field for the poor ; the Biccurim ; the sacrifices on 
coming up to the feasts ; pious works, on which, however, not more than one-nfth 
of one's property was to be spent ; and the study of the law (Josh. i. 8). Similarly, 
** these are the things of which a man eats the fruit in this world, but their parses- 



On Vows. 333 

according- to the Rabbis in both these cases one-sixtieth was 
to be considered as the minhmim. From Ex. xxiii. i6 and 
Lev. xxiii. 1 6, 17, it was argued that the Bicairimwtvt not to 
be brought to Jerusalem before Pentecost ; nor yet were they 
to be offered later than the Feast of the Dedication of the 
Temple. If given at any other time than between Pentecost 
and the 25th Kislev, the regular service was not gone through 
at their presentation. Before describing this, we add a few par- 
ticulars about the Terumoth, In regard to them it was said 
that " a fine eye " (a liberal man) *' gives one-fortieth," '' an evil 
eye" (a covetous person) *^ one-sixtieth," while the average rate 
of contribution — ''' a middling eye " — ^was to give one-fiftieth, 
or two per cent. The same proportion we may probably also 
set down as that of the Bicctirim. Indeed, the Rabbis have 
derived from this the word Te^'umah^ as it were Terei Mimeahy 
" two out of a hundred." In the class Terumoth we may also 
include the Reshith or *' first of the fleece;"^ which, according 
to the Mishnah^ had to be given by every one who possessed 
at least five sheep, and amounted, without dust or dirt, as a 
minimum, to five Judaean, or ten Galilean, shekel weight of pure 
wool (one Judsean, or sacred shekel = to under two hundred 
and seventy-four Parisian grains) ; and, further, the Reshith 
Challah, or " first of the dough," ^ which, if the dough was used 
for private consumption, was fixed by the Rabbis at one- 
twenty-fourth, if for sale at one-forty-eighth, while, if it were 
made for non-Israelites, it was not taxed at all. The Rabbis 
have it, that the "first of the dough" was only due from 

sion passes into the next world (literally, * the capital continueth for the next, ' as 
in this world we only enjoy the interest) : to honour father and mother, pious 
works, peacemaking between a man and his neighbour, and the study of the law, 
which is equivalent to them all." In Shab. 127, a, six such things are menti.uiit.vi, 

^ Deut. xviii. 11. 2 Choi. xi. i, 2. 

' Numb. XV. 18-21. The Mishnah lays down varying nUes as to the amount of 
die Challah in different places outside Palestine {ChaL iv. 8). 



334 T^^^ Temple, its Ministry and Services. 

wheat, barley, casmin, oats, and rye, but not if the dough has 
been made of other esculents, such as rice, etc. Of course, 
neither tithes, nor Biccurim, nor Terumoth^ were to be given of 
what already belonged to the Lord, nor of what was not fairly 
the property of a person. Thus if only the trees, but not the 
land in which they grew, belonged to a man, he would not 
give first-fruits. If proselytes, stewards, women, or slaves 
brought first-fruits, the regular service was not gone through, 
since such could not have truthfully said either one or other of 
these verses : ^ *' I am come to the country which the Lord 
sware to our fathers to give us ; '' or, " I have brought the 
first-fruits of the land which Thou, O Lord, hast given me." 
According to Lev. xix. 23-25, for three years the fruits of a 
newly-planted tree were to remain unused, while in the fourth 
year they were, according to the Rabbis, to be eaten in Jeru- 
salem. Biccurim, Terumoth, and what was to be left in the 
** corners " of the fields for the poor were always set apart, 
before the tithing was made. If the offering of " first-fruits " 
had been neglected, one-fifth was to be added when they were 
brought. Thus the prescribed religious contributions of every 
Jewish layman at the time of the second Temple were as 
follows : Biccurim and Tenimothy say two per cent. ; from 
the *' first of the fleece," at least five shekels' weight ; from the 
*' first of the dough," say four per cent. ; " corners of the 
fields " for the poor, say. two per cent. ; the first, or Levitical 
tithe, ten per cent. ; the second, or festival tithe, to be used at 
the feasts in Jerusalem, and in the third and sixth years to be 
tiiC '' poor's tithe," ten per cent. ; the firstlings of all animals, 
either in kind or money-value ; five shekels for every first-born 
son, provided he were the first child of his mother, and free of 

^ Deut. xxvi. 3, 10. 



On Vows. 335 

blemish ; and the half-shekel of the Temple-tribute. Together, 
these amounted to certainly more than the fourth of the 
return which an agricultural population would have. And it 
is remarkable, that the law seems to regard Israel as intended 
to be only an agricultural people — no contribution being pro- 
vided for from trade or merchandise. Besides these prescribed, 
there were, of course, all manner of voluntary offerings, pious 
works, and, above all, the various sacrifices which each, accord-^ 
ing to his circumstances or piety, would bring in the Temple 
at Jerusalem. 

Having thus explained the nature of the various religiout 
contributions, it only remains to describe the mode in which 
the Biccuriniy or " first-fruits," were ordinarily set apart, and 
the ceremonial with which they were brought to Jerusalem, 
and offered in the Temple.^ Strictly speaking, the presenta- 
tion of the first-fruits was an act of family religion. As in the 
first omer at the Passover, and by the Pentecostal loaves^ Israel 
as a nation owned their God and King, so each family, and 
every individual separately acknowledged, by the yearly presen- 
tation of the first-fruits, a living relationship between them and 
God, in virtue of which they gratefully received at His hands 
all they had or enjoyed, and solemnly dedicated both it and 
themselves to the Lord. They owned Him as the Giver and 
real Lord of all, and themselves as the recipients of His bounty, 
the dependents on His blessing, and the stewards of His pro- 
perty. Their daily bread they would seek and receive only at 
His hand, use it with thanksgiving, and employ it in His ser- 
vice ; and this, their dependence upon God, was their joyous 

* See the Mishnak, 'Tract. Biccurim and the Gema'/ds^ »lsc MniiDonides. The 
rites have also been described by Jost (voL i. pp. 1 72, T73\ S'^als^hiitz {Moi^ 
Recht), and in other similar works. 



^^6 The Te7nplt, its Ministry and Services* 

freedom, in which Israel declared itself the redeemed people of 
the Lord. 

As a family feast thepresentationof the first-fruitswould enter 
more than any other rite into family religion and family life. 
Not a child in Israel — at least of those who inhabited the Holy 
Land — could have been ignorant of all connected with this 
service, and that even though it had never been taken to the 
beautiful " city of the Great King," nor gazed with marvel 
and awe at the Temple of Jehovah. For scarcely had a brief 
Eastern spring merged into early summer, when with the first 
appearance of ripening fruit, whether on the ground or on trees, 
each household would prepare for this service. The head of 
the family — if we may follow the sketch in the harvest-picture 
of the household of the Shunamite — accompanied by his child, 
would go into his field and mark off certain portions from 
among the most promising of the crop. For only the best 
might be presented to the Lord, and it was set apart before it 
was yet ripe, the solemn dedication being, however, afterwards 
renewed, when it was actually cut. Thus, each time any one 
would go into the field, he would be reminded of the owner- 
ship of Jehovah, till the reapers cut down the golden harvest. 
So, also, the head of the house would go into his vineyards, 
his groves of broad-leaved fig-trees, of splendid pomegranates, 
rich olives and stately palms, and, stopping short at each best 
tree, carefully select what seemed the most promising fruit, tie 
a rush round the stem, and say : '* Lo, these are the first- 
fruits." Thus he renewed his covenant-relationship to God 
each year as " the winter was past, the rain over and gone, the 
flowers appeared on the earth, the time of the singing of birds 
was come, and the voice of the turtle was heard in the land, 
the fig-tree put forth his green figs, and the vines with the 



On Vows. 337 

tender grapes gave a good smell/* And as these fruits gradu- 
ally ripened, the ceremonies connected first with setting them 
apart, and then with actually offering them, must have con- 
tinued in every Israelitish household during the greater por- 
tion of the year, from early spring till winter, when the latest 
presentation might be made in the Temple on the 25 th Kislev 
(corresponding to our December). 

Of course every family could not always have sent its repre- 
sentatives to Jerusalem. But this difficulty was provided for. 
It will be remembered that as the priests and the Levites, so 
all Israel were divided into twenty-four courses, who were 
represented in the Sanctuary by the so-called *' standing men," 
or " men of the station." This implied a corresponding divi- 
sion of the land into twenty-four districts or circuits. In the 
capital of each district assembled those who were to go up 
with the first-fruits to the Temple. Though all Israel were 
brethren, and especially at such times would have been wel- 
comed with the warmest hospitality each home could offer, 
yet none might at that season avail himself of it. For 
they must camp at night in the open air, and not spend it in 
any house, lest some accidental defilement from the dead, or 
otherwise, might render them unfit for service, or their obla- 
tion unclean. The journey was always to be made slowly, for 
the pilgrimage was to be a joy and a privilege, not a toil or 
weariness. In the morning, as the golden sunlight tipped the 
mountains of Moab, the stationary man of the district, who 
was the leader, summoned the ranks of the procession in the 
words of Jeremiah xxxi. 6 : " Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion, 
and unto Jehovah our God." To which the people replied, 
as they formed and moved onwards, in the appropriate language 
of Psa. cxxii. : "I was glad when they said unto me, Let 



33^ The Temple^ its Ministry and Services. 

us go into the house of Jehovah. '^ First went one who played 
the pipe ; then followed a sacrificial bullock, destined for a 
peace-offering, his horns gilt and garlanded with olive-branches ; 
next came the multitude, some carrying the baskets with the 
first-fruits, others singing the Psalms, which many writers sup- 
pose to have been specially destined for that service, and hence to 
have been called " the Songs of Ascent ;" in our Authorised Ver- 
sion *^ the Psalms of Degrees." The poorer brought their gifts 
in wicker baskets, which afterwards belonged to the officiating 
priests ; the richer theirs in baskets of silver or of gold, which 
were given to the Temple treasury. In each basket was 
arranged, with vine-leaves between them, first the barley, then 
the wheat, then the olives ; next the dates, then the pomegra- 
nates, then the figs ; while above them all clustered, in luscious 
beauty, the rich swelling grapes. 

And so they passed through the length and breadth of the 
land, everywhere wakening the echoes of praise. As they 
entered the city, they sang Psa. cxxii. 2 : " Our feet stand 
within thy gates, O Jerusalem." A messenger had preceded 
them to announce their approach, and a deputation from the 
Temple, consisting of priests, Levites, and treasurers, varying 
in numbers according to the importance of the place from 
which the procession came, had gone out to receive them. In 
the streets of Jerusalem each one came out to welcome them, 
with shouts of, " Brethren of such a place " (naming it), " ye 
come to peace ; welcome ! Ye come in peace, ye bring peace, 
and peace be upon you ! " 

As they reached the Temple Mount, each one, whatever his 
rank or condition, took one of the baskets on his shoulder, 
and they ascended, singing that appropriate hymn,* " Praise 

* Psa. cL 



On Vows. 339 

ye Jehovah ! praise God in His sanctuary : praise Him in the 
firmament of His power," etc. As they entered the courts of 
the Temple itself, the Levites intoned Psa. xxx. : " I will 
extol Thee, O Jehovah ; for Thou hast lifted me up, and hast 
not made my foes to rejoice over me," etc. Then the ypung 
pigeons and turtle-doves which hung from the baskets were 
presented for burnt-offerings. After that, each one, as he pre- 
sented his gifts, repeated this solemn confession '} ** I profess 
this day unto Jehovah thy God, that I am come unto the 
country that Jehovah sware unto our fathers for to give us." 
At these words, he took the basket from his shoulder, and the 
priest put his hands under it and waved it, the offerer continu- 
ing : ** A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went 
down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became 
there a nation — great, mighty, and populous." Then reciting 
in the words of inspiration the narrative of the Lord's marvel- 
lous dealings, he closed with the dedicatory language of verse 
lO : *' And now, behold, I have brought the first-fruits of the 
land which Thou, O Jehovah, hast given me." So saying, he 
placed the basket at the side of the altar, cast himself on his 
face to worship, and departed. The contents of the baskets 
belonged to the officiating priests, and the offerers themselves 
were to spend the night at Jerusalem. 

Turning from this to what may be called its higher applica- 
tion, under the Christian dispensation, we find that the word 
rendered " first-fruits " occurs just seven times in the New Tes- 
tament. These seven passages are: Rom. viii. 13 ; Rom. xi. 
16; Rom. xvi. 5 ; i Cor. xv. 20-23 ; i Cor. xvi. 15 ; James 
i. 18 ; Rev. xiv. 4. If we group these texts appropriately, 
one sentence of explanation may suffice in each case. First, 

^ Dent. xxvi. 3. 



34^ The Tempi Cy its Ministry and Services. 

we have,^ as the commencement of the new harvest, the Lord 
Jesus Himself, risen from the dead, the " first-fruits ** — the first 
sheaf waved before the Lord on the second Paschal day, just 
as Christ actually burst the bonds of death at that very time. 
Then, in fulfilment of the Pentecostal type of the first loaves, 
we read of the primal outpouring of the Holy Spirit, dispensed 
on the day of Pentecost. The presentation of the first-fruits 
IS explained by its application to such instances as Rom. xvi. 
5, and I Cor. xvi. 15 (in the former of which passages the 
reading should be Asia, and not Achaia), while the character 
of these first-fruits is shown in James i. 18. The allusion in 
Rom. xi. 16 is undoubtedly to the "first of the dough," and so 
explains an otherwise difificult passage. The Apostle argues, 
that if God chose and set apart the fathers — if He took the 
first of the dough, then the whole lumip (the whole people) is 
in reality sanctified to Him ; and therefore God cannot, and 
"hath not cast away His people which He foreknew." Finally, 
in Rev. xiv. 4, the scene is transferred to Heavan, where we 
see the full application of this symbol to the Church of the 
first-born. But to us all, in our labour, in our faith, and in our 
hope, there remain these words,^ pointing beyond time and 
the present dispensation : 

*' Ourselves also, which have the first-fruits 
OF THE Spirit, even we ourselves groan within 
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the 
redemption of our body."* 

•* Glory to God on account of all things. " — St. Chrysostom, 
* 1 Cor XV, 20, 23. « Rom. viii. 2^ 



APPENDIX. 

DID THE LORD INSTITUTE HIS " SUPPER •» ON THE 
PASCHAL NIGHT? 

The question, whether or not the Saviour instituted. His Supper 
during the meal of the Paschal night, although not strictly belong- 
ing to the subject treated in this volume, is too important, and too 
nearly connected with it, to be cursorily passed over. The balance 
of learned opinion, especially in England, has of late inclined 
agamst this view. The point has been so often and so learnedly 
discussed, that I do not presume proposing to myself more than 
the task of explaining my reasons for the belief that the Lord 
instituted His " Supper " on the very night of the Paschal Feast, 
and that consequently His crucifixion took place on the first day 
of Unleavened Bread, the isth of Nisan. 

From the writers on the other side, it may here be convenient to 
select Dr. Farrar, as alike the latest and one of the ablest expositors 
of the contrary position. His arguments are stated in a special 
Excursus,^ appended to his Life of Christ,'^ At the outset it is 
admitted on both sides, " that our Lord was crucified on Friday and 
rose on Sunday ; " and, further, that our Lord could not have held a 
sort of anticipatory Paschal Supper in advance of all the other Jews, 
a Paschal Supper being only possible on the evening of the 14th 
Nisan, with which, according to Jewish reckoning, the 15th Nisan 
began. Hence it follows, that the Last Supper which Christ cele- 
brated with His disciples must have either been the Paschal Feast, 
or an ordinary supper, at which He afterwards instituted His own 

* Excursm x. * Vol. ii. pp. 474-483. 



342 Appendix. 

special ordinance.* Now, the conclusions at which Dr. Farrar arrives 
are thus summed up by him : ^ " That Jesus ate His last supper mth 
the disciples on the evening of Thursday, Nisan 13, i.e,^ at the time 
when, according to Jewish reckoning, the 14th of Nisan began; that 
this supper was not, and was not intended to be, the actual Paschal 
meal, which neither was nor could be legally eaten till the following 
evening; but by a perfectly natural identification, and one which 
would have been regarded as unimportant, the Last Supper, which 
was a quasi'Passover^ a new and Christian Passover^ and one in 
which, as in its antitype, memories of joy and sorrow were strangely 
blended, got to be identified, even in the memory of the Synoptists, 
with the Jewish Passover, and that St. John silently but deliberately 
corrected this erroneous impression, which, even in his time, had 
come to be generally prevalent." 

Before entering into the discussion, I must confess myself unable 
to agree with the a priori reasoning by which Dr. Farrar accounts 
for the supposed mistake of the Synoptists. Passing over the ex- 
pression, that " the Last Supper was a quasi-Passover,'' which does 
not convey to me a sufficiently definite meaning, I should rather 
have expected that, in order to realise the obvious " antitype," the 
tendency of the Synoptists would have been to place the death of 
Christ on the evening of the T4th Nisan, when the Paschal lamb was 
actually slain^ rather than on the 15th Nisan, twenty-four hours after 
that sacrifice had taken place. In other words, the typical predi- 
lections of the Synoptists would, I imagine, have led them to identify 
the death of Christ with the slaying of the lamb ; and it seems, 
a priori^ difficult to believe that, if Christ really died at that time, 
and His last supper was on the previous evening — that of the 13th 
Nisan, — they should have fallen into the mistake of identifying that 
supper, not with His death, but with the Paschal meal. I repeat : 
a priori^ if error there was, I should have rather expected it in the 

' Dr. Farrar rightly shrinks firom the conclusions of Caspari ( Ckron. Geogr. EinL 
in d, Leben jfesu, p. 164, etc.), who regards it as what he calls "a Mazzoth-xnQ^\ " 
without a Paschal lamb. The suggestion is wholly destitute of foundation. 

2 Lift of Christ, ii. p. 482. 



Appendix. 343 

opposite direction. Indeed, the main dogmatic strength of the 
argument on the other side lies in the consideration that the anti- 
type (Christ) should have died at the same time as the type (the 
Paschal lamb). Dr. Farrar himself feels the force of this, and one of 
his strongest arguments against the view that the Last Supper took 
place at the Paschal meal is : " The sense of inherent and symbolical 
fitness in the dispensation which ordained that Christ should be slain 
on the day and at the hour appointed for the sacrifice of the Paschal 
lamb." Of all persons, would not the Synoptists have been alive to 
this consideration ? And, if so, is it likely that they would have 
fallen into the mistake with which they are charged? Would not 
all their tendencies have lain in the opposite direction ? 

But to pass to the argument itself For the sake of clearness it 
will here be convenient to treat the question under three aspects : — • 
How does the supposition that the Last Supper did not take place 
on the Paschal night agree with the general bearing of the whole 
history ? What, fairly speaking, is the inference from the Synoptical 
Gospels? Lastly, does the account of St. John, in this matter, 
contradict those of the Synoptists, or is it harmonious indeed with 
theirs, but incomplete ? 

Hoi^ does the supposition that the Last Supper did not take place 
on the Paschal night agree with the general bearing of the whole 
history 1 

1. The language of the first three evangelists, taken in its natural 
sense, seems clearly irreconcilable with this view. Even Dr. Farrar 
admits : " If we construe the language of the evangelists in its plain, 
straightforward, simple sense, and without reference to any pre- 
conceived theories, or supposed necessities for harmonising the 
different narratives, we should be led to conclude from the Synop- 
tists that the Last Supper was the ordinary Paschal meal." On this 
point further remarks will be made in the sequel. 

2. The account of the meal as given, not only by the Synoptists 
but also by St. John, so far as he describes it, seems to me utterly 
inconsistent with the idea of an ordinary supper. It is not merely 
one trait or another which here influences us, but the general im- 



344 Appendix. 

pression produced by the whole. The preparations for the meal ; 
the allusions to it ; in short, so to speak, the whole mise en scene is 
7iot that of a common supper. Only the necessities of a precon- 
ceived theory would lead one to such a conclusion. On the other 
hand, all is just what might have been expected, if the evangelists 
had meant to describe the Paschal meal. 

3. Though I do not regard such considerations as decisive, there 
are, to my mind, difficulties in the way of adopting the view that 
Jesus died while the Paschal lamb was being slain, far greater than 
those which can attach to the other theory. On the supposition of 
Dr. Farrar, the crucifixion took place on the 14th Nisan, "between 
the evenings" of which the Paschal lamb was slain. Being a 
Friday^ the ordinary evening service would have commenced at 
12.30 p.M.,^ and the evening sacrifice offered, say, at 1.30, after 
which the services connected with the Paschal lamb would imme- 
diately begin. Now it seems to me almost inconceivable, that under 
such circumstances, and on so busy an afternoon,^ there should have 
been, at the time when they must have been most engaged^ around the 
cross that multitude of revihng Jews, " likewise also the chief priests, 
mocking him, with the scribes,'* which all the four evangelists record.^ 
Even more difficult does it seem to me to believe, that after the 
Paschal lamb had been slain, and while the preparations for the 
Paschal Supper were going on, as St. John reports^^ an '' honour- 
able councillor,'' like Joseph of Arimathaea, and a Sanhedrist, Hke 
Nicodemus, should have gone to beg of Pilate the body of Jesus, or 
been able to busy themselves with His burial. 

I proceed now to the second question ; What ^fairly speaking^ is 
the inference from the Synoptical Gospels ? 

I. To this, I should say, there can be only one reply: — The 
Synoptical Gospels, undoubtedly, place the Last Supper in the 
Paschal night. A bare quotation of their statements will establish 
this : — " Ye know that after two days is the Passover 'y^^^ " Now the 

* See page 190. ^ gg^ ^^e chaj)ter on the ** Paschal Rites." 

* Matt, xxvii. 39, 41 ; Mark xv. 29, 31; Luke xxiii. 35; John xix. 20» 

* John XX. 38, 39. * Matt. xxvi. 2. 



Appendix. 345 

first day of unleave^ied bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto 
Him, Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the 
Passover T'^ "/ will keep the Passover at thy house f^ " They made 
ready the Passover''^ Similarly, in the Gospel by St. Mark :* " And 
the first day of unleavened bread^ when they killed the Passover^ the 
disciples said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we go a?id prepare, 
that Thou may est eat the Passover V " The Master saith, Where is 
the guest-chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples V^ 
" There make ready for us." " And they made ready the Passover, 
And in the evening He cometh with the twelve. And as they sat 
and did eat . . . ." And in the Gospel by St. Luke '? " Then came 
the day of unleavened bread ^ when the Passover must be killed;'^ " Go 
and prepare us the Passover^ that we may eat ;^^ " Where is the guest- 
chamber where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples V^ " There 
make ready ;'* ^^ And they made ready the Passover.'^ "And when 
the hour was come He sat down;" " With desire have I desired to 
eat this Passover with you before I suffer." It is not easy to 
understand how even a " preconceived theory " could weaken the 
obvious import of such expressions, especially when taken in connec- 
tion with the description of the meal that follows. 

2. Assuming, then, the testimony of the Synoptical Gospels to be 
unequivocally in our favour, it appears to me extremely improbable 
that, in such a matter, they should have been mistaken, or that such 
an *^ erroneous impression " could — and this even " in the time of St. 
John " — have " come to be generally prevalent." On the contrary, 
I have shown that if mistake there was, it would most likely have 
been rather in the opposite direction. 

3. We have now to consider what Dr. Farrar calls "the incidental 
notices preserved in the Synoptists," which seem to militate against 
their general statement. Selecting those which are of greatest force, 
we have : — 

(a) The fact " that the disciples^ suppose Judas to have left the 

* Matt. xxvi. 17. * Matt. xxvi. i8. 

3 Matt. xxvi. 19. * Mark xiv. 12-17. 

• Luke xxii. 7-lS« * John xiii. 22. 



34^ Appendix. 

room in order to buy what things they had need of against the feast." 
But the disciples only suppose this \ and in the confusion and excite- 
ment of the scene such a mistake was not unintelligible. Besides, 
though servile work was forbidden on the first Paschal day, the pre- 
paration of all needful provision for the feast was allowed, and must 
have been the more necessary, as, on our supposition, it was fol- 
lowed by a Sabbath. Indeed, the Talmudical law distinctly allowed 
the continuance of such preparation of provisions as had been com- 
menced on the "preparation day" (Arnheim, Gebetb, d, Isr,, p. 500, 
note 69, a). In general, we here refer to our remarks at p. 213, only 
adding, that even now Rabbinical ingenuity can find many a way of 
evading the rigour of the Sabbath-law. 

{b) As for the meeting of the Sanhedrim, and the violent arrest of 
Christ on such a night of peculiar solemnity, the fanatical hatred of 
the chief priests, and the supposed necessities of the case, would 
sufficiently account for them. On any supposition we have to admit 
the operation of these causes, since the Sanhedrim confessedly vio- 
lated, in the trial of Jesus, every principle and form of their own 
criminal jurisprudence. 

Lastly, we have to inquire : Does the account of St, J^ohn contradict 
those of the Synoptists, or is it harmo7iious^ indeed^ with them, but in- 
complete ? 

I. Probably few would commit themselves to the statement, that 

the account of St. John necessarily contradicts those of the Synop- 

. tists. But the following are the principal reasons urged by Dr. 

Farrar for the inference that, according to St. John, the Last Supper 

took place the evening before the Paschal night : — 

{a) Judas goes, as is supposed, to buy the things that they have 
need of against the feast. This has already been explained. 

{b) The Pharisees " went not into the judgment-hall, lest they 
should be defiled, but that they might eat the Passover." And in 
answer to the common explanation that " the Passover " here means 
the i5th day, Chagigah} he adds, in a foot-note, that "there was 
nothing specifically Paschal " about this Chagigah. Dr. Farrar should 
have paused before committing himself to such a statement. One of 

* Page 186, etc., and page 217, etc., of this voL 



Appendix. 347 

the most learned Jewish writers, Dr. Saalschiitz, is not of his opinion. 
He writes as follows -} " The whole feast and all its festive meals 
were designated as the Passover. See Deut. xvi. 2, compare 2 Chron. 
XXX. 24, and xxxv. 8, 9 ; Sebach, 99, b^ Rosh ha Sh, 5, a, where it 
is expressly said, ' What is the meaning of the term Passover ? ' 
(Answer) *The peace-offerings of the Passover.''' Illustrative Rab- 
binical passages are also quoted by Lightfoot ^ and by Schottgen.^ 
As a rule the Chagigah was always brought on the 15th Nisan, and 
it required Levitical purity. Lastly, Dr. Farrar himself admits that 
the statement of St. John* must not be too closely pressed, "for 
that some Jews must have even gone into the judgment-hall without 
noticing * the defilement * is clear.'' 

{c) According to St. John,^ the following Sabbath was " a high day," 
or "a great day ;" on which Dr. Farrar comments : " Evidently 
because it was at once a Sabbath, and the first day of the Paschal 
Feast." Why not the second day of the feast, when the first omtr 
was presented in the Temple ? To these may be added the following 
among the other arguments advanced by Dr. Farrar : — 

(d) The various engagements recorded in the Gospels on the day of 
Christ's crucifixion are incompatible with a festive day of rest, such 
as the 15th Nisan. The reference to "Simon the Cyrenian coining 
out of the country " seems to me scarcely to deserve special notice. 
But then Joseph of Arimathasa bought on that day the "fine linen "^ 
for Christ's burial, and the women *' prepared spices and ointments."' 
Here, however, it should be remembered, that the rigour of the festive 
was not like that of the Sabbatic rest, that there were means of 
really buying such a cloth without doing it in express terms (an eva^ 

^ Mos. Recht^ p. 414. The argument and quotations from the Talmud are also 
given in Relandus, Antiq.^ p. 426. For a full treatment of the question see 
Lightfoot, HorcB Hebr. p. 1 121. 

2 HorcB Hebr, p. 1 12 1, etc, ^ Horce Hebr. p. 400. * John xviii. 28. 

5 John xix. 31. ® Mark xv. 46. 

"^ Luke xxiii. 56. It should not be overlooked that these supposed incon- 
sistencies appear in the accounts of the Synoptists, who, according to Dr. Farrar, 
wished to convey that Christ was crucified on the 15th Nisan. If really incon- 
pistencies, they ire very gross, and could scarcely have escaped the writers. 



34^ Appendix. 

sion known to Rabbinical law). Lastly, the Jerusalem Talmud 
{Ber, 5, b) expressly declares it lawful on Sabbaths and feast-days to 
bring a coffin, graveclothes, and even mourning flutes — in short, to 
attend to the offices for the dead — just as on ordinary days. This 
passage, though, as far as I know, never before quoted in this con- 
troversy, is of the greatest importance. 

{e) Dr. Farrar attaches importance to the fact that Jewish tradi- 
tion fixes the death of Christ on the 14th Nisan.^ But these Jewish 
traditions, to which an appeal is made, are not .only of a late date, 
but wholly unhistorical and valueless. Indeed, as Dr. Farrar himself 
shows, 2 they are full of the grossest absurdities. I cannot here do 
better than simply quote the words of the great Jewish historian. Dr. 
Jost :^ " Whatever attempts may be made to plead in favour of these 
Talmudic stories, and to try and discover some historical basis in 
them, the Rabbis of the third and fourth centuries are quite at sea 
about the early Christians, and deal in legends for which there is no 
foundation of any kind." 

(/) Dr. Farrar's objection that " after supper" Jesus and His disci- 
ples went out, which seems to him inconsistent with the inj.unction of 
Ex. xii. 22, and that in the account of the meal there is an absence 
of that hurry which, according to the law, should have characterised 
the supper, arises from not distinguishing the ordinances of the so- 
called " Egyptian " from those of " the permanent Passover." On 
this and kindred points the reader is referred to Chaps. XI., XII. 

{g) The only other argument requiring notice is that in their accounts 
the three Synoptists " give not the remotest hint which could show 
that a lamb formed the most remarkable portion of the feast." Now, 
this is an objection which answers itself. For, according to Dr. 
Farrar, these Synoptists had, in writing their accounts, been under the 
mistaken impression that they were describing the Paschal Supper. 
As for their silence on the subject, it seems to me capable of an 
interpretation the opposite of that which Dr. Farrar has put upon it. 

I I have not been able to verify Dr. Farrar *s references to Mishnah, Sanh. vi. 2 
and X. 4. But I agree with Gratz {GescTi. d. Juden,^ iii. p. 242, note), that much 
in Sanh. vii. bears, though unexpressed, reference to the proceedings of the Sanhe- 
drim against Christ. * Excursus^ ii. p. 452. ^ Gesch. d. JudetUk.^ i. p. 405. 



Appendix. 349 

Considering the purpose of all which they had in view — the fulfilment 
of the type of the Paschal Supper, and the substitution for it of the 
Lord's Supper — their silence seems not only natural, but what might 
have been expected. For their object was to describe the Paschal 
Supper only in so far as it bore upon the insuiuuon of the Lord's 
Supper. Lastly, it is a curious coincidence that throughout the 
whole Mishnic account of the Paschal Supper there is only one isolated 
reference to the lamb — a circumstance so striking, that, for example, 
Caspari has argued from it^ that ordinarily this meal was what he calls 
"a meal of unleavened bread," and that in the majority of cases 
there was no Passover-lamb at all ! I state the inference drawn by 
Dr. Caspari, but there can scarcely be any occasion for replying 
to it. 

On the other hand, I have now to add two arguments taken from 
the masterly disquisition of the whole question by Wieseler,^ to show 
that St. John, like the Synoptists, places the date of the crucifixion 
on the 15th Nisan, and hence that of the Last Supper on the even- 
ing of the 14th. 

{a) Not only the Synoptists, hut St. John ' refers to the custom 
of releasing a prisoner at " the feast," or, as St John expressly calls it, 
** at the Passover." Hence the release of Barabbas, and with it the 
crucifixion of Jesus, could not have taken place (as Dr. Farrar sup- 
poses) on the 14th of Nisan, the morning of which could not have 
been designated as " the feast," and still less as ** the Passover." 

(h) When St. John mentions * that the accusers of Jesus went not 
into Pilate's judgment-hall " lest they should be defiled ; but that 
they might eat the Passover," he could not have referred to their 
eating the Paschal Supper. For the defilement thus incurred would 
only have lasted to the evening of that day, whereas the Paschal 
Supper was eaten after the evening had commenced, so that the 
defilement of Pilate s judgment-hall in the morning zvould in no way 
have interfered with their eating the Paschal Lamb, But it would have 

^ Chronol. Geogr. Einl, in d. Leben Jesu ChHsti^ p. 164. 

' Chronolog, Synopse der 4 Evang. p. 333, etc. 

* John xviii. 39. * * John xviii. 28, 



S5^ Appendix. 

interfered with their either offering or partaking of the Chagigah on 
the isth Nisan.^ 

2. Hitherto I have chiefly endeavoured to show that the account 
of St. John is harmonious with that of the Synoptists in reference 
to the time of the Last Supper. But, on the other hand, I am free 
to confess that, if it had stood alone, I should not have been able to 
draw the same clear inference from it as from the narratives of the 
first three gospels. My difficulty here arises, not from what St 
John says, but from what he does not say. His words, indeed, are 
quite consistent with those of the Synoptists, but, taken alone^ they 
would not have been sufficient to convey, at least to my mind, the 
same clear impression. And here I have to observe that St. John's 
account must in this respect seem equally incomplete, whichever 
theory of the time of the Last Supper be adopted. If the Gospel of 
St. John stood alone, it would, I think, be equally difficult for Dr. 
Farrar to prove from it his, as for me to estabUsh my view. He 
might reason from certain expressions, and so might I ; but there 
are no such clear, unmistakeable statements as those in which the 
Synoptists describe the Passover night as that of the Last Supper. 
And yet we should have expected most fulness and distinctness 
from St. John ! 

Is not the inference suggested that the account in the Gospel of 
St. John, in the form in which we at present possess it, may be in- 
complete ? I do not here venture to construct a hypothesis, far less 
to offer a matured explanation, but rather to make a suggestion of 
what possibly may have been, and to put it as a question to scholars. 
But once admit the idea, and there are, if not many, yet weighty 
reasons, to confirm it. For, 

1. It would account for all the difficulties felt by those who have 
adopted the same view as Dr. Farrar, and explain, not, indeed, the 
supposed difference — for such I deny — but the incompleteness of 
St. John's narrative, as compared with those of the Synoptists. 

2. It explains what otherwise seems almost unaccountable. I agree 
with Dr. Farrar that St. John's *' accounts of the Last Supper are 

* This argument is already mentioned by Lightfoot, u*s. 



Appendix. 351 

incomparably more full than those of the other evangelists/' and that 
he '* was more immediately and completely identified with every act 
in those last trying scenes than any one of the apostles/' And yet, 
strange to say, on this important point St. John's information is not 
only more scanty than that of the Synoptists, but so indefinite that, 
if alone, no certain inference could be drawn from it. The circum- 
stance is all the more inexplicable if, as on Dr. Farrar's theory, " the 
error " of the Synoptists was at the time " generally prevalent," and 
" St. John silently but deliberately " had set himself to correct it. 

3. Strangest of all, the Gospel of St. John is the only one which 
does not contain any account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, 
and yet, if anywhere, we would have expected to find it here. 

4. The account in John xiii. begins with a circumstantiality which 
leads us to expect great fulness of detail. And yet, while maintain- 
ing throughout that characteristic, so far as the teaching of Jesus in 
that night is concerned, it almost suddenly and abruptly breaks off 
(about ver. 31) in the account of what He and they who sat with 
Him did at the Supper. 

5. Of such a possible hiatus there seems, on closer examination, 
some internal confirmation, of which I shall here only adduce this one 
instance — that chapter xiv. concludes by, " Arise, let us go hence f 
which, however, is followed by other three chapters of precious 
teaching and intercessory prayer, when the narrative is abruptly 
resumed, by a strange repetition, as compared with xiv. 31, in these 
words (xviii. i) : "When Jesus had spoken these words, He went 
forth with His disciples over the brook Cedron." 

Further discussion would lead beyond the necessary limits of the 
present Excursus, Those who know how bitterly the Quartodeciman 
controversy raged in the early Church, and what strong things were 
put forth by the so-called "disciples of John" in defence of their 
view, that the Last Supper did not take place on the Paschal night, " 
may see grounds to account for such a hiatus. In conclusion, I 
would only say that, to my mind, the suggestion above made would 
in no way be inconsistent with the doctrine of the plenary inspira* 
tion of Holy Scripture. 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS. 



Chap. I.— A First View of Jerusalem and of the Temple. 

Memories of Jerusalem — Origin of the name — Situation of the city — First 
impressions of its splendour— Approach from the Mount of Olives — The 
walls of Jerusalem — Tower of Antonia — Hills on which the city was built 
— The streets — Principal buildings — Synagogues — Jewish tradition about 
the *'Shushan Gate" and the arched roadway from the Temple to the 
Mount of Olives — -Lunar station on the Mount of Olives — Lavatories and 
booths —Approach to the Temple-r-Extent of the Temple-plateau — 
General appearance of the Temple — Rabbinical legends about Jerusalem 
and the Temple — Ruins of ancient Jerusalem ; their depth below the 
present level .... ...... Page 

Chap. II. — Within the Holy Place. 

The principal entrances from the west into the Temple — The ** Royal Bridge" 
over the Tyropoeon Valley — Its proportions and architecture — ** The 
porches" of the Temple — The *' Royal Porch" — Its name and 
dimensions — View from the top of the colonnade — Chicot among the 
doctors of the law — Solomon's Porch — The Court of the Gentiles — 
Marble screen with tablets warning off Gentiles — The Chel or terrace of 
the Temple — Gates into the inner courts — The ** Beautiful Gate" — The 
Court of the Women — The thirteen Treasury-chests or '* trumpets" — 
Chambers and side courts — The Gate of Nicanor — The fifteen steps of 
*' Ascent," or of the Levites — The Court of Israel— The Court of the 
Priests— Chambers connected with it— The *'Beth Moked "—The hall of 
hewn stones — Description of the Temple in the Mishnah — The altar of 
burnt- offering — Red line around the middle of it — Arrangements for 
sacrificing — The laver — The water supply of the Temple — Its drainage 
— Proportions of the Holy House itself — The Porch — The Holy Place — 
The Most Holy Place — Silence of the Rabbis about Herod — The disciples 
pointing out the Temple-buildings to the Master — May any of the Temple 
spoils be still existent ?•••••••• Page 



Analysts of Contents. 353 

Chap. III. — Temple Order, Revenues, and Music. 

Comparison of the first and second Temple — What was wanting in the latter— 
** Without the Gate" — Different degrees of sanctity attaching to different 
localities — Ordinances enforcing due reverence in the Temple — *' Provide 
neither gold," /'nor scrip," '* neither shoes, nor yet staves" — Punish- 
ment of high-handed profanity — ** Death by the hand of God" and 
** cutting off" — ** Anathema Maranatha " — The punishment of "the 
rebels' beating" — The "forty stripes save one," and how administered — 
Need of strict discipline from the size of the Temple and the number of wor- 
shippers — The revenues of the Temple — Things dedicated and free gifts — 
The Temple-tribute — How collected — Discount allowed to be charged by 
**the money-changers" — Computed annual amount of Temple- tribute — 
Amount of contributions from the Jews of " the dispersion " — How 
the Temple revenues were employed — Splendour of the Temple ser- 
vices — The hymnody of the Temple — References to it in the Book of 
Revelation — Singing in the Temple — Threefold blast of the priests* 
trumpets — Instrumental music in the Temple — Antiphonal singing — 
Remnants of Temple music ....... Fa^e 38 

Chap. IV. — The Officiating Priesthood. 

Priests " obedient to the faith " — Those who were prevented from going up 

in their course prayed and fasted in their synagogues — The institution of ^-^ 
the priesthood — The two ideas of reconciliation and holiness — Arrange- 
ment of the priests into twenty- four courses — How their number was 
made up after the return from Babylon — Arrangement of the Levites into 
twenty-four courses — Duties of the Levites in the Temple — The Sabbath 
law in the Temple — Arrangement of the courses on duty — The law op- 
posed to all priestly pretensions — ** Learned " and '* unlettered priests " — 
Value attached to learning — The high-priests — Their succession — Age 
and qualifications for the priestly office — High-priests **by anointing" 
and high-priests "by investiture" — Dress of the high-priest — Illustra- 
tions of New Testament allusions — Were phylacteries at the time of Christ 
universally worn? — The various officials among the priesthood — The 
** elders of the priests" or ** honourable councillors" — The twenty- 
four sources whence the support of the priesthood was derived . Page eg 

Chap. V. — Sacrifices : Their Order and Their Meaning. 

Sacrifices the centre of the Old Testament dispensation — Symbols and 
Types — Antisacrificial views of Rabbinism — Substitution the fundamental 

AA 



354 Analysis of Contents. 



idea of sacrifice — The sacrifice when God first entered into covenant- 
relationship with Israel — After that all sacrifices either in communion, or 
for communion with God — Bloody and unbloody sacrifices — General 
requisites of all sacrifices — Animals used for sacrifices — Public and 
private ; most holy and less holy sacrifices — Acts belonging to the 

V offerer, and priestly acts — Mode of offering sacrifices— Imposition of 
hands and confession — Waving — The sprinkling of the blood — Different 
modes of it — Other sacrificial rites — Meaning of the burning of the 

^ sacrifice — Views of the ancient Synagogue about sacrifices — Modern 
Jewish sacrifice on the Day of Atonement .... Pa^e 79 

Chap. VI. — The Burnt-Offering, the Sin- and Trespass-Offering, 

AND the PEACE-OfFERING. 

Internal connection of the Old Testament — Progress in its prophecies — 
Messianic interpretation of the ancient Rabbis — The hurnt'offe7dng : its 
meaning and character — How offered — The only sacrifice lawful to non- 
Israelites — The sin-offering — Differences between it and the trespass-offer- 
ing — Public and private, fixed and varying, outer and inner sin-offerings — 
The sin-offering differing according to the theocratic position of the offerer 
— Its blood sprinkled — The sacrificial meal — The trespass-offering iox a 
certain, and that for a doubtful trespass — Its vsv^2sivs\^—T\iQ peace-offering : 
its meaning — How and where offered — "Waving "and ** Heaving" — 
What offerings were ** waved" — -The various meat-offerings — How 
offered— Need of a large number of officiating priests for all these 
services ' Page 96 

Chap. VII.— At Night in the Temple. 

The allusions to Temple minutice in the writings of St John — Reference 
to the burning of the garments of those asleep on Temple-guard at 
night — Was there an evening service in the Temple?— Time and 
duration of the morning sacrifice — Time and duration of the evening 
sacrifice — At night in the Temple — Parting salutation of the priests 

V on the Sabbath — Closing the Temple gates — Custody of the keys — 
The evening meal — Arrangement of accounts for meat-offerings sold 
during the day — The Temple-guard at night— Division of the night into 
watches — Rounds made by the ** captain of the guard " — Unexpected 
summons to prepare for the service — The bath — Priestly inspection of 
the Temple — Casting of the lot for the services of the morning — *' The 
sky is lit up as far as Hebron "....... Page 112 



Analysis of Contents. 355 



v/ 



Chap. VIII. —The Morning and the Evening Sacrifice. 

Was public prayer offered in the Temple? — Rabbinical views on the subject 
of prayer — Eulogies — Prayers of celebrated Rabbis — The Lord's Prayer 
— The people respond in the Temple by a benediction, not by an Amen-r- 
Attitude in prayer — Two elements in prayer — The Eulogy and the 
Tephillah — Prayer symbolised by the burning of incense — Zacharias 
offering this service in the Holy Place — Morning service oif the priests 
on whom \}s\q first lot had fallen — The preparation of the altar of burnt- 
offering — The second lot — The daily sacrifice, and how it was offered — 
The altar of incense is cleansed and the candlestick dressed — The sacri- 
fice is cut up — The third zxi^ fourth lots are cast — Prayer of the priests — 
Service of burning the incense — ** gilencej' in the Temple — Prayers of 
priests and people — Burning the sacrifice on the altar — The priest*s 
blessing — The drink-offering accompanied by Temple music — The 
Evening Service — Order of Psalms for each day in the week . Page 124 

Chap. IX.— -Sabbath in the Temple, 

Meaning and object of the Sabbath — Rabbinical ordinances of Sabbath 
observance, and their underlying principles — Differences between the 
schools of Hillel and Shammai — " The eve of the Sabbath " — Commence- 
ment of the Sabbath, how announced— The renewal of the shewbread — 
When and how it had been prepared — The table of shewbread — How 
the bread was arranged upon it — Service of the priests in removing the 
old and putting on the new shewbread — Meaning of the shewbread — 
The Sabbath service in the Temple — Sabbatical years — Rabbinical 
ordinances on the subject — Scriptural ordinances — Were debts wholly 
remitted, or only deferred on Sabbatical years? — The ^'' FrosbuV — 
Rabbinical evasions of the Divine law — Sabbath observance by the 
Saviour .... Page 145 

Chap. X. — Festive Cycles and Arrangement of the Calendar. 

The number seven as determining the arrangement of the sacred year — 
The three festive cycles of the year — Difference between the Moed and 
the Chag — Three general characteristics of the great feasts — Post -Mosaic 
festivals and fasts — Duty of appearing three times a year in the Temple 
— The *' stationary men" Israel's representatives in the Temple — 
Their duties — The Hebrew year lunar — Necessity of introducing leap-years 



35^ Analysis of Contents. 

— How the appearance of the New Moon was officially ascertained 
and announced — "Full" and '* imperfect " months — New Year's Day — 
Origin of the Hebrew names of the months — The *' civil " and the 
** sacred " year —Jewish era — Division of the day and of the night — 
Jewish calendar ....••.••. Page 165 

Chap. XL — The Passover. 

Difference between the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread — Three- 
fold reference of the Passover to nature, history, and grace — Time of the 
Passover — Meaning of the term Pesach — Difference between the so-called 
** Egyptian" and the *' Permanent Passover" — Mention in Scripture 
of seasons of Paschal observance — Number of worshippers in the Temple 
at the Passover — Preparations for the feast — The first and the second 
Chagigah — The ** eve of the Passover" — Search for, and removal of all 
leaven — What constituted leaven — Commencement of the feast on the 
forenoon of the 14th Nisan — At what hour it became duty to abstain 

/from leaven, and how it was intimated— Selection of the Paschal 
Lamb— At what hour it was slain — Division of the offerers into three 
companies — Mode of sacrificing the Paschal Lamb — The singing of the 
"Hallel" — Why it was called the Egyptian Hallel — How the lambs 
were prepared after sacrifice— The disciples preparing the Passover for 
the Master Page i*J^ 

Chap. XII. — The Paschal Feast and The Lord's Supper. 

Jewish traditions about the Paschal season — Present observances of the 
Paschal Supper — Ancient usages continued in our own days — How the 
Paschal Lamb was roasted — Reason of this ordinance — Christ linking 
His own Supper to the Paschal Feast — The Paschal Lamb specially 
typical of the Saviour — How the guests sat at the Supper — The use of 
wine absolutely incumbent- — Rabbinic story about the cup of blessing 
— The service of the Paschal Supper — The Passover Lamb^ the Un- 
leavened Breads and the Bitter Herbs — The Apkikomen—T\iQ first cup 
and the blessing over it — Washing of hands — Two different kinds of 
ceremonial washing — The bitter herbs are eaten — Questions by the 
youngest at table, and instruction given him by the head of the house — 
The first part of the "Hallel" is sung — The second cup and the breaking 
of unleavened cakes — The sop — The Paschal Supper itself — The third 
or cup of blessing — Concluding portion of the " Hallel " — Did our Lord 
eat the Passover Supper on the night of Flis betrayal ? — Institution of the 
Lord's Supper Page 196 



Analysis of Contents. 357 

Chap. XTIL— The Feast of Unleavened Bread a.nd the Day 
OF Pentecost. 

Duration of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and origin of its name — The 
Passover a remembrance of Israel's deliverance from bondage, rather 
than of that bondage — Observance of the 15th of Nisan — Offerings for 
that day — The Chagigah — The Lord's betrayal into the hands of the 
Gentiles — His condemnation by the Sanhedrim — The death on the Cross 
about the time the evening incense was offered — At the time of the descent 
from the Cross a procession across Kedron to prepare for cutting down the 
Passover sheaf — By whom, where, and with what formalities this was done 

— How the omer was prepared for presentation on the 1 6th Nisan in the 
Temple — The last day of the Passover — The intervening days, or Moed 
Katon — The Feast of Pentecost — Its historical reference— Various names 
of the feast — Its observance in the Temple — Sacrifices — The "Hallel" 
chanted to the accompaniment of the flute — The presentation of the two 
wave-loaves with their accompanying sacrifices — How the wave-loaves 
had been prepared — Their shape and weight — Why these loaves were 
leavened — The waving of the two live lambs — Conclusion of the services 
— Meaning of the Feast of Pentecost — The outpouring of the Holy 
Spirit Page 2^5 

Chap. XIV. — The Feast of Tabernacles. 

The Feast of Tabernacles, a harvest feast pointing to the final harvesting of 
the Church — Names of the feast— S'gnificance of its occurrence on the 15th 
day of the seventh month, and after the Day of Atonement — The three 
characteristics of the Feast of Tabernacles— This feast peculiarly comme- 
morative of Israel being strangers and pilgrims in the earth — -The dwell- 
ing in booths— Rabbinical ordinances about their structure — The wor- 
shippers carrying the jEthrog and the Lulav in the Temple — Sacrifices for 
the Week of Tabernacles — The characteristic number seven appears in 
them — Daily diminution in the number of bullocks offered —Services in the 
Temple — Solemn procession to Siloam to fetch water — Decoration of the 
altar with v^dllow branches — Pouring of the water carried from Siloam — 
Opposition of the Sadducees to this practice — Singingof the " Hallel*' — The 
waving of the Lulav while singing certain portions of Psa. cxviii. — Refer- 
ence of this Hosanna to Christ on the day of His entrance into Jerusalem 

— Procession of the priests in the Temple and circuit of the altar — 
Repetition of this seven times on the last day of the feast, the Day of 
the Great Hosanna — Christ in the Temple crying, " If any man thirst, let 



35^ Analysts of Contefzfs. 

him come unto Me and drink " — The words of Christ : ** I am the light of 
the world " — Their probable reference to the Temple illumination at the 
Feast of Tabernacles — Description of the Temple illumination — Order of 
Psalms sung at the Feast of Tabernacles — Reference to this feast in the 
Book of Revelation — The Feast of Tabernacles the only unfulfilled type 
of the Old Testament ... ...... Pa^e 232 

Chap. XV. — The New Moons : The Feast of the Seventh 
New Moon, or of Trumpets, or New Year's Day. 

Observance of the New Moon— How its appearance was determined — The 
blowing of trumpets and its meaning— Sacrifices on New Moon's Day — 
Rabbinical superstitions connected with these days — Number of priests 
officiating in the Temple — Whether and what special prayers were said— 
The New Moon of the seventh month, the *'day of blowing," or NeW 
Year's Day — Special sacrifices on that day — Order of Psalms sung^ — 
Rabbinical notions as to the judgment pronounced on that day — Their 
interpretation of the blowing of trumpets — On New Year's Day the horn 
blown — Rabbinical traditions on the subject — The ** benedictions " oil 
New Year's Day — New Year's Day in the time of Ezra— Possible allusion 
to it in Eph. v. 8, 14 , . . . Page 250 

Chap. XVI. — The Day of Atonement. 

How **the commandment" bears testimony to its inherent ** weakness and 
unprofitableness " — Specially so in the services of the Day of Atonement 
— Peculiar solemnity of that day — Its name — Significance of its occur- 
rence on the loth day of the seventh month, and previous to the Feast of 
Tabernacles — The high-priest officiating in a peculiar white dress — 
Symbolical meaning of this — Threefold sacrifices of that day — Their order 
— Number of priests employed — The high-priest prepares for the Day 
of Atonement seven days before its occurrence, and takes up his abode 
in the Temple — The night of the fast — The high-priest himself performs 
all the day's services— How often he changed his raiment and washed his 
body, or else his hands and feet — The ordinary morning service — The 
high-priest puts on his linen garments for the first time — The sin-offering 
for the high-priest and his family — Confession over it — The ineffable 
name of Jehovah is ten times pronounced on that day — Mode of casting 
the lot over the two goats — The two are really one sacrifice — A tongue- 
shaped piece of scarlet cloth is tied to the horn of the goat for Azazel 
— This goat standing before the people, waiting till their sins should be 
laid upon him — Confession of sin for the priesthood, and sacrifice of the 



Analysis of Contents. 359 

bullock — The high-priest enters the Most Holy Place for the first time to 
burn the incense — Prayer of the high-priest on coming out — The high- 
priest enters the Most Holy Place a second time with the blood of the 
bullock — And a third time with that of the goat for Jehovah — The sprink- 
ling towards the veil, of the altar of incense, and of that of bunit-offermg 
— The high-priest lays the personal sins and the guilt of the people 
on the so-called "scape-goat " — Peculiar mode of confession over it — The 
goat is led away into the wilderness — And pushed over a precipice — Mean- 
ing of the scape-goat — Reference to the coming of Christ, as He who 
would take away sin — Meaning of the expression la-Azazel — The high^ 
priest's reading and prayers in the Court of the Women — The high- 
priest puts on the golden garments to offer the festive, burnt-, and other 
sacrifices — He again puts on his linen garments to enter the Most Holy 
Place for the fourth and last time — On the afternoon of the day, dance and 
song of the maidens of Jerusalem in the vineyards — Views of the Syna- 
gogue about the Day of Atonement ... • • Pc^ge 263 

Chap. XVII.— Post-Mosaic Festivals. 

Object of tnese feasts— The Feast of Fufim — Its origin and time — Was it ever 
attended by the Lord ? — Services on the Feast of Purim — WTien and how 
the Megillah was read — Modem ceremonials — The Feast of the Dedica- 
tion of the Temple — Its origin and duration — The "Hallel"sung on each 
day of its duration ; the people carried palm branches, and there was a 
grand illumination of the Temple and of private houses — Suggestion that 
the date of Christmas was taken from this feast — Practice as to the 
illumination The Feast of the Wood-offering on the last of the nine 
seasons of the year, when such offerings were brought in the Temple — 
Rabbinical accounts of its origin — Maidens dance in the vineyards on 
the afternoon of that day — Fasts, public and private — Memorial fasts^ 
The four great fasts mentioned in Zech. viiL — Mode of observing public 
fests Page 289 

Chap. XVIII. — On Purifications. 

Sjinbolical meaning of Levitical defilements and purifications — The purifi- 
cation of the Virgin Mary in the Temple — Defilement by contact with 
death — Six degrees of defilement — Sacrifice of the red heifer— Preser- 
vation of its ashes, and use of them in purification — Spnbolical meaning 
of this purification — Analogy between the red heifer, the scape -goat, 
and the living bird let loose in cleansing the leper — Why was the 
heifer wholly burnt? — Meaning of the use of the ashes of the rec^ 



360 Analysis of Contents. 

heifer — Rabbinical tradition about Solomon's ignorance of the meaning 
of this rite — Selection of the red heifer — Ceremonial in its sacrifice 
and burning — Selection of one so free from suspicion of defilement as to 
administer this purification — Children kept in special localities for that 
purpose— Ceremonial connected with the purification — How many red 
heifers had been offered from the time of Moses — Symbolical meaning of 
leprosy — Lepers admitted to special places in the synagogue -How the 
priests were to examine and pronounce judgment on leprosy — Explana- 
tion of Lev. xiii. 12, 13 — Twofold rites in restoring the healed leper 
— First, or social stage of purification — Second stage after seven days' 
seclusion — The rites to be observed in it — Rabbinical account of the 
service — The meat-offering at the purification of a wife suspected of 
adultery — Symbolical meaning of it — The priest warns the woman of 
the danger of perjury — The words of the curse written upon the roll, 
washed in water from the laver — This mixture, with dust of the sanc- 
tuary, dmnk by the woman — In what cases alone the Rabbis allowed this 
trial— How the accused appeared dressed in the Temple — How she had 
to drink the bitter water — Divine judgments upon the guilty — Cessation 
of this rite shortly after the death of our Lord — Remarks of the Mishnak 
in recording this fact , . Page 30I 

Chap. XIX. — On Vows. — The Nazarite's Vow. The Offering of 

THE FiRST-FrUITS IN THE TeMPLE. 

The lawfulness of vows — Difference between the Neder and the Issar — 
General characteristics of the Nazarite's vow — Rabbinical ordinances 
on vows — Their binding character — "Persons" or *' things " vowed — 
Their disposal — Rabbinical protests against rash vows — A story of 
Simeon the Just — Frequency of vows in later times, and traffic in them — 
Derivation of the term //«2;2> —Spiritual meaning of the Nazarite's vow^ 
Divine ordinances in regard to it — The Nazarite compared with the 
priest — Duration of the vow — A *' perpetual Nazarite" and a '* Samson 
Nazarite" — Rabbinical ordinances -The sacrifices of the Nazarite, and 
the ritual in the Temple — St. Paul "at charges"— The offering of first- 
fruits — Biccurim and Terumoth — On whom incumbent — Amount of 
them— The "first of the fleece" and "the first of the dough"— 
General amount of religious contributions due from every Israelite — 
The presentation of the first-fmits an act of family religion— Its 
meaning— The setting apart of the first-fruits in field or orchard — Solemn 
procession to Jerusalem — Reception at Jerusalem — Service in the Temple 
—References to the " first-fruits " in the New Testament • . Page 32a 



INDEX; 



Adultery, woman suspected of, rites 
concerning, 318 ; woman suspected 
of, how she appeared in the Temple, 
320; woman suspected of, service 
in clearing her from suspicion, 320. 
See also Jealousy, 

i^THROG, 238. 

Altar of burnt-offering, 32, 131 ; of 
incense, 134. 

Antonia, castle and tower ot, 10, 13. 

A HIKOMEN, 204, 209. 

Ashes of Red Heifers, where kept, 
and how used, 311. 

Atonement, Day of, 263; time of, 
265 ; sacrifices on, 267; services of, 
269; Jewish views about, 287. 

Azazel, 283. 

Beth Moked, 31. 

BiCCURIM, 331. 

Blood of sacrifices, thrown or 

sprinkled, 89, 133. 
Booths, at Feast of Tabernacles, 237. 

Calendar, arrangement of, 165 ; 
festive cycles of, 166 ; adjustment 
of the lunar year, 170; festive, 

175- 

Calpi, 272. 
Candlestick, 135. 
Chag, 166. 

Chagigah at Passover, 186, 217. 
Chanuchah. See Dedicatioriy Feast of, 
Charoseth, 204, 208. 
Confession over the sacrifices, 88. 
Contributions, religious, 334 ; gene- 
ral amount of, 334. 
Counsellors, honourable, 75. 



Courses, twenty-four, 61, ^6\ heads 
of, 66. 

Courts. See Temple, 

Cup of Thanksgiving, 209. 

Day, division of, 174; duration of, 

174. • 

Dancing, maidens of Jerusalem, at 

certain festivals, 286, 296. 
Death, defilement of, 301 ; how long 

it lasted, 304. 
Dedication, P'east of, its origin, 292 ; 

its reference to Christmas, 293 ; 

its observances, 293. 
Defilement, different degrees of, 304; 

laws concerning, 306. 
Dress of high-priest and priests, 72. 
Esther, Feast of. See Purim, 
Fasts, 167; public and private, 296; 

four great, 297 ; how observed, 

298 ; their tendency, 299. 
Festivals, general characteristics of, 

167 ; post-Mosaic, 167. 
Fruits, First, 331 ; when presented, 

333 ; amount of, 332 ; how set 

apart, 336 ; brought to Jerusalem, 

337 ; offered in the Temple, 338 ; 

Christian application of, 339. 
GiZBARIN, 75. 

Guard of Temple, 119; captain of, 
119; punishment if asleep, 120. 

Hallel, what portion of the Psalms, 
191 ; how sung at the Passover, 

191 ; how often sung in the year, 

192 ; at Feast of Tabernacles, 
242, Pentecost, 228, Dedication, 
293- 



362 



Index. 



Heifer, Red, meaning of, 306 ; 
analogy with scapegoat, 307 ; 
ashes of, and how used, 308, 311 ; 
its selection, 310 ; ritual at its 
offering, 310 ; how many offered 
since time of Moses, 312. 

Herbs, bitter, at Paschal Supper, 204. 

High -PRIEST, 69 ; anointing of, 71 ; 
by anointing, or by investiture, 71; 
■ dress of, 72 ; girdle of, 73 ; dress 
on Day of Atonement, 266 ; con- 
fession of, on Day of Atonement, 
271, 273, 277 ; laying skins on 
scapegoat, 272 ; entering Most 
Holy Place, 274; prayer of, 274, 
284. 

Holiness (of places), degrees of, 39. 

Horn, blowing of, on New Year's 
Day, 259. 

Ignorance, sins of, loi. 

Imposition of hands on sacrifices, 87. 

Incense, burning of, by Zacharias, 129; 
altar of, 134 ; how prepared, 134; 
lot for, 136 ; offering of, 137. 

Jealousy, offering of, 318 ; waters of, 
under what circumstances adminis- 
tered, 319, how prepared, 320, 
when their use ceased, 321. See 
also Adultery, 

Jehovah, name of, when pronounced, 
271. 

Jerusalem, ruins of, 18 ; memories of, 
2 ; name, 3 ; situation, 3, 4, 5 ; 
splendour, 6 ; approach to, 6, 8 ; 
population, 9 ; walls, 9 ; towers, 
10 ; hills, II ; streets, II ; princi- 
pal buildings, 1 1 ; Rabbinical say- 
ings about it, 17. 

Katholikin, 75. 

Layer, how filled, 130. 

Law, weakness and unprofitableness of, 
264, 281. 

Leayen, how removed at Passover, 
188 ; what considered as such, 189. 

Leper, exclusion of, 313 ; examination 
of by priests, 314 ; purification of 
the healed, 315 ; sacrifices brought 
when healed, 317. 



Levites, in first and second Temple, 
63 ; duties of, 65 ; disqualifications 
of, 70. 

Lot, cast for services in Temple, 121, 
130 ; for bearing the incense, 136. 

LULAV, 238. 

Mazzoth, 215. 

MOED, 166. 

MoED Katoi^, 225, 

Month, how its commencement ascer- 
tained, 170; when full, 1 7 1. 

Months, names of, 172. 

Morning, how announced in the 
Temple, 132. 

Music in the Temple, 52, 142. 

Musical Instruments in Temple, 53, 
54. 

Nazarite, name of, 326 ; obligations 
of, 327, 329; perpetual and Sam- 
son Nazarite, 328 ; sacrifices of, 
330. 

New Moon, how ascertained and 
made known, 170, 251 ; Feast 
of, 250, sacrifices on, 253, ob- 
servances on, 254, prayers on, 

255. 

New Year's Day, duplication of, 172. 
See also Feast of Trumpets. 

NiCANOR, Gate of, 29. 

Night, duties in the Temple during, 
117 ; division of, 119. 

Offerings, fixed or varying, 102. 

Offering of sacrifices, 86 ; burnt- 
offering, 99 ; sin-offering, lOO ; 
various kinds of, 102 ; trespass- 
offering, 105 ; peace-offering, 106; 
meat-offering, 109, how prepared, 
109 ; sold to offerer in the Temple, 
118. 

Olives, Mount of, 7. 

Omer, presentation of first ripe-barley 
at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, 
224. 

Paschal, Feast, 196 ; Jewish traditions 
as to time of, 196 ; supper, arrange- 
ment of, 197; lamb, how prepared 
at, 199, meaning of, 200; supper, 
posture at, 201, cup at, 201, 202, 



Index. 



363 



205, order of service at, 203, 
prayers at, 204, order at, 206, 
when observed by the Lord, 211, 
** Hallel " sung at, 210. See also 
Feast of Unleavened Bj-ead. 

Passover, meaning of, 177; distinction 
between ** Egyptian" and *' per- 
manent," 180; pilgrims to, 183; 
preparation for, 184, 187 ; sacri- 
fices of Israelites on, 187 ; how its 
beginning made known, 189 ; how 
the disciples prepared for it, 190; 
service at the offering of the lamb, 
191. 

Pentecost, Feast of, 225 ; Jewish 
traditions about, 226 ; sacrifices 
on, 227 ; ^'Hallel" sung, 228 ; pre- 
sentation of wave-loaves, 229. 

Phylacteries, 74. 

Prayer, in the Temple, 124; of 
Rabbis, 125 ; of the Lord, 127 ; 
liturgical formulas, 126; attitude 
in, 127; of priests in the *'Hall of 
Polished Stones," 136; of people 
during the burning of incense, 139 ; 
of high-priest, 274, 2B4. 

Prayers, Eulogies and Tephilloth, 
128. 

Preaching not the exclusive right of 
an order, 68. 

Priests' quarter, 59 ; twenty-four 
courses, 59, 66, how restored 
in the second Temple, 63 ; 
high -priest, 69 ; officials among, 
75 ; support of, 77 ; lettered or 
unlettered, dZj 78 ; duties of in 
sacrifices, %(i, 88 ; blessing of, 
141. 

Priesthood, meaning and object of, 
60; pretensions of, discouraged, 
67 ; disqualifications for, 70 ; ad- 
mission to, 71. 

Prophecy, and its connection, 97. 

Prosbul, 161. 

Psalms, daily order of in Temple, 143. 
See the various Feasts. 

Punishments, Divine and human, 43 ; 
forty stripes, save one, 44; the 
rebel's beating, 43. 



PURIM, feast of, 290 ; origin, meanmg, 
and controversy about, 290 ; fast 
on the day before, 291 ; services 
of, 292. 

Purifications, from defilement of 
death, 301 ; sacrifices for purification 
from, 304 ; from defilement con- 
nected with origin of life, 302 ; of 
Virgin Mary, 302 ; service at puri* 
fication from defilement of death, 
310 ; of healed leper, see Leper, 

Reverence, in the Temple, 40. 

Sabbath, institution of, 145 ; how 
kept by the Rabbis, 147, 149 ; 
day's journey, 148 ; commence- 
ment of, how known, 150; rest in 
the Temple, 65 ; preparation for, 
151; in the Temple, 152; service 
of in Temple, 158 ; psalm and 
hymn in Temple, 158; its mean- 
ing, 163. 

Sabbatical Year, 159 ; ordinance of 
Rabbis, 166. 

Sacrifice of white cock on Day of 
Atonement, 94; morning, 130. 

Sacrifices, their obligation, 79 ; their 
permanence, 96 ; symbolical and 
typical meaning, 80 ; fundamental 
idea of, 81 ; general arrangement 
of, 82 ; requisites of, 83 ; animals 
used for, 84; private and public, 
holy and less holy, 85 ; what done 
by offerer, 86 ; laying on of hands 
and confession, 87 ; waving of, 88 ; 
various duties of the priests in 
offering them, 90 ; parts belonging 
to the priests, 91; views of the 
ancient Synagogue about, 92 ; 
Jewish lament for the want of 
them, 93 ; evening and morning, 
at what hour, 115. See also 
Offerings and the various Feasts. 

Sagan, 75. 

Salutation, at parting of priests, 
117; of altar at Feast of Taber- 
nacles, 248. 

Scapegoat, 272-277; meaning of the 
rites connected with it, 279. See 
also Atone?nenL 



364 



Index. 



Service, daily, time occupied in it, 
116; morning, 132. See also 
Sabbath, Nro) Moony and the 
various Festivals. 

Sheaf, so-called first ripe at the Feast 
of Unleavened Bread, 222. 

Shewbread, 152 ; table of, 153, 
vessels on it, 154, how ranged, 
154; how prepared, and shape of 
it, 155 ; service at changing it 
on every Sabbath, 156 ; meaning 
of, 157. 

Simeon the Just, 130, 325. 

Singing in Temple, 56. 

Solomon, his supposed ignorance of the 
meaning of the Red Heifer, 309. 

Stationary men, 168. 

Substitution. See Sacrifices and 
Blood. 

Supper, Paschal, 198. 

Symbols and Types, meaning of, 80. 

Synagogues in Jerusalem, 13. 

Tabernacles, Feast of, 232; mean- 
ing of, 233 ; time of, 234 ; charac- 
teristic rites of, 235 ; sacrifices at, 
239 ; ceremony of water-drawing, 
241 ; ^'Hallel" sung, 242; last, or 
** great day " of the Feast of, 243 ; 
illummation of Temple, 245 ; 
psalms sung at the Feast, 248 ; 
salutation of altar at, 248 ; the 
only unfulfilled type, 249. 

Temple, extent of, 13 ; gates of, 14, 25 ; 
*' Beautiful Gate" of, 26; area and 
general appearance of, 16; "Royal 
Bridge" into, 20; porches of, 21; 
colonnades, 22 ; *' Court of the 
Gentiles," 23; the "CM" 25; 
*' Court of the Women," 27 ; 
courts and chambers, 29, 31 ; 
courts of Israel and of the Priests, 
30 ; description of in Mishnah, 31 ; 
duties in, and arrangements of, 121; 
meal at night in, 118; altar of 
burnt-offering, 33 ; laver, 35 ; 
water supply of, 35 ; the Holy 
House itself, 36 ; differences be- 
tween first and second, 38 ; extent 



of, 45 ; treasury, 46 ; contributions 
to, 46 ; tribute and amount of, 47, 
49, 50; money-changers in, 48 
revenues, how employed, 50 
music, 52, 142 ; singing in, 56 
St. John's allusions to its ser- 
vices, 112; at night in, 115, 
116. 

Terumoth, 331. 

Time, division of, 174. 

Tonsure of classes of the Nazarile, 
313. 

Treasury of Temple, 27. 

Trespass, certain or doubtful, 105 5 
offering, see Offerings. 

Trumpets, or Alms-boxes, in Treasury 
of Temple, 27 ; Feast of, 256 ; 
prayers on, 260 ; Rabbinical views 
of its import, 258 ; reference to in 
New Testament, 262 ; blasts of, 
53, 252. 

Types. See also Symbols, 

Unleavened Bread, Feast of, 215 ; 
meaning, 215 ; condemnation of 
the Saviour at, 217 ; mode of cut- 
ting first ripe barley at, 221 ; 
sacrifice at, 216 ; when and how 
this sheaf presented, 224. 

Virgin Mary, purification of, 302. 
Vows, dift'erent classes of, 322 ; great 

number of, 325 ; how paid, 324 j 

when valid, 323. 

Watches of the night, 115, 119. 
Washing before ministry, 121. 
Wave-loaves at Pentecost, 229. 
Wave-sheaf. See Feast of Unleavened 

Bread. 
Weeks, Feast of. See Pentecost. 
Witnesses to appearance of New 

Moon, 251. 
Worshippers, how enter and leave, 

23. 
Wood-offering, Feast of, 295 ; its 

observances, 296. 
Year, sacred and civil, 173; how to 

ascertain the current Jewish, \1^\ 

division of, 257, 



INDEX TO SCRIPTURE REFERENCES 



Genesis. 

Page 

l 300 

ii. 3 146 

xii. 3 178 

XV. 197 

xxviii. 20 324 

xxxii 32 

xl. 9-15 ........ 202 

xlix. 26 326 

Exodus. 

»i 179 

„ 3 185 

,f 6 . .«• 180 

« 8-11 199 

., 15 ^77 

.. 16 181 

„ 25 182 

... 33. 39 215 

xiii. 4 172 

„ 5 182 

f, 8 199, 207 

XV 52, 159 

Xvi 36 109 

tix. 1-3 226 

„ 5,6 67 

f, 7 226 

„ 8 226 

„ 10-16 226 

.» 16-19 55 

XX. 18. 55 

xxil 29 331 

xxiii. 10, n .... 160 

« 14 177 

„ 14-16 .... 178 
»» 14-17 •••• 226 

„ 15 172, 183 

„ 16. .227, 233, 333 

„ 19 331, 332 

xxiv 82, 200 

,, 18-23 .... 177 

XXV. 2 107, 331 

„ 23, etc 153 

„ 25, 31 .... 135 

»» 29 154 

•» 30 153 



Page 



, Exodus. 

XXIX. 5, 6 60 

„ 6 326 

.. 27 331 

XXX. II, 12 60 

„ 12 49 

„ 13 331 

... 34 134 

xxxi. 15 160 

xxxii. 26 58 

xxxiii. 32 258 

xxxiv. 18-20 .... 181 

„ 22.. 178, 227, 233 

,. 26 331 

XXXV. 5 331 

»> 13 153 

,, 29 107 

xxxvi. 3, 6. .... . 331 

xxxix. 30 326 

„ 36 153 

xl.6 86 



Leviticus. 



... 168 
.90, 91 
... 83 
. . . 109 
,.. 108 



109 



2. 9 

3, 10 ..I 

4-7 

i. i-S 2ib 

, 2, 8 t68 

, 3-5, etc 108 

, 4. 5 107 

^ 3 103 

, 3, 22 102 

, 6-T7 90 

, II, 12, 20. . .. 308 

, 13 85, 103 

, 14 306 

, 15 87 

, 23 103 

» 25 89 

, 28 104 

» 31 •••• 91 

, z 102 



Leviticus. 

Page 

V. 1-13 lOI 

»» 6 104 

i, II 83 

„ II, 12 IC9 

„ 12 78 

t> 13 • 104 

,. 15 105 

vi. 2 105 

„ T2 83 

„ I2-l6 121 

„ 17 85 

,, 20 30, 109 

,,21 199 

vii. I 85 

„ 3 106 

„ II 107 

„ II, etc...... 108 

» 12 107 

ff 14 331 

„ 16 107 

f, 29, 34 218 

„ 30, 32 108 

,, 32 108 

viii. 9 326 

„ 25-29 108 

,, 26 330 

ix. 3, 15 104 

X. 12 85 

„ 15 108 

>»„i7 105 

xii 302 

,, 6 104 

xiii. 12, 13 ..314, 315 

xiv. 1-9 315 

„ 10 104 

„ 10-20 315 

„ 12.101,105,106,108 

„ 13 8s 

„ 21 102 

„ 24 88 

., 29 315 

XV. 5 100 

„ 14, 29 104 

xvi 266, 281, 284 

,, 2 269 



Leviticus. 

Pa.ee 

xvi. 3 267, 283 

„ 4 266 

„ 8, 10, 24.... 272 
„ 9,10, 26.... 283 

« 13 103 

„ 20 280 

„ 21.87,124,281,288 

„ ' 22 278 

>, 24 270 

», 31 166 

.... 33 264 

XVll. II 81, 92 

xix. 20 ...,..,, 105 

... 23-25 334 

XXI. 304 

.» II 327 

„ 32 326 

xxii. 12 331 

„ 23 107 

,, 29, 30 .... 78 

xxiiL 237 

». 3 150 

w 4-22 177 

„ 5 180 

« 7 i8r 

„ lo-ii .... 222 

,f II .. .. 108, 222 

„ 15 147 

t» 15, 5. 32, 39 147 

„ 15, 16 .♦.. 226 

„ 16, 17 .... 3.33 

„ 19 ... . 107, 228 

„ 20 io3 

„ 21 226 

w 24 256 

» 24, 32,39.. 223 

„ 25, 32 .... 23s 

„ 26-32 .... 266 

„ 27-32 .... 284 

,f 32 166 

» 35, 36 .... 235 

„ 39 • . . • 234, 235 

„ 40 236 

„ 42, 43 •••• 236 

», 56 177 



366 



Index to Scripture References. 



Leviticus. 

Pajre 

xxlv. 8 150 

XXV. 5, II 327 

ff 6 160 

„ 8 147 

„ 9 55» 266 

„. 23 178 

xxvii. 2-8 324 

„ 9, 10 .... 324 
„ 11-27 .... 324 
„ 16 78 

xxxiii. 34, 43 ... . 233 

Numbers. 

i. 83 

,,3 86 

iii. 3 ••••• 70 

iv. 4 86 

„ 7 150, 153 

V. 4 331 

„ 10-12 106 

n "-31 518 

» 15 83, 109 

„ 19-22 320 

,,25 108 

vi 326 

., 2 326 

*, 3-4 327 

„ 7.... 304, 327, 328 
„ 8 326 

»* ;io ••••• 104 

,, 12 lOI 

*» 13-21 329 

9» 14 104 

»» 14, ^5 329 

f » le, 20 330 

,y 20 108 

„ 21 330 

V..24-26 I4t 

viii. 24, 25 70 

IX. 1-5 182 

„ 3-5 180 

^ 9-11 .... 172, 181 

*, 9-T2 225 

„ 17 306 

X. i-io 252 

y 2 142 

,, 10 252 

xiv. 4 84 

XV. i-io 239 

b 1-12 83 

#. 18-21 333 

., 19 •••. 331 

»» 2C 78 

„ 20-21 331 

», 24 103 

„ 24-26 85 

.. 37-41 137 

tviii. 7 ........ 6t 

., 8-11 331 

„ 12, 13 .... 331 

xix 268, 301 



Numbers. 

Page 

xix. 7, 8 305 

». 9, 17 304 

>t II, 12 327 

„ Ti-i6 ....18, 304 

» 21 305 

„ 22 304 

XXV. 7, 8 44 

xxviii 100 

„ 1-12 83 

„ 4 ........ 116 

„ 4-8 115 

„ 9,10.52,150,158 

*> II 253 

„ n-i5..252,253 

» 15 1*03 

„ 16, 17 177 

„ 18 181 

»> 19. 24 .... 117 
„ 26 . . . 226, 227 
„ 26-30 .... 228 
„ 26-31 .... 227 

,, 27 228 

xxix 110, 270 

f, I 256 

». 5 103 

„ 7-11 .. 267, 284 

„ II 266 

„ 12, etc 239 

„ 12-38 .... 248 

M 16 285 

„ 36-38 .... 249 

XXX. 2 322 

„ 3-8 ... 324 

„ 26-28 323 

xxxi. 19 304 

„ 41 331 

Deuteronomy. 

i. 1-6 162 

V. 15 146 

vi. 4, etc. 137 

„ 4-8 162 

V..4-9 137 

viii. 8 .. ........ 332 

ix. 13-22 162 

xi. 13-21 137 

xiv. 22 ** 162 

XV. 1-6 160 

» 14-.. 161 

„^ 23.......... 162 

xvi. I 172 

„ 2, 16, 17.... 181 

♦» 3 215 

„ 10, 16. . .... 227 

»» 13, 16 233 

„ I3» 17 236 

» 16, 17 183 

>,.. 17 217 

xvii. 14 162 

xviii. 3 78 

»» 4 331 



Deuteronomy. 

Page 

xviii. II ». 333 

xxi.^ 3 306 

xxiii. 18 323 

,, 22-24 .....324 

xxvi. 2 332 

,f 2-" 331 

» 3-iP • * 334, 339 

>* 5-11 207 

,, 12-19 .... 162 
„ 15 .... 124, 332 

xxvii 162 

,,7.. 107, 187, 217 
xxviii 162 

». 58, 59-..- 45 

XXXI. lo . . . . 233, 235 

„ 10, II .... 160 

„ 10-13 .... 248 

xxxii 52, 158 

»» 3 271 

„ ^ i6 326 

xxxiii. 10 99 

Joshua. 

1.8 332 

v. 10 182 

yi. 15, etc 149 

ix. 21, 23, 27.. . . 64 

xxi. 16 129 

Judges. 

«• 30,31 324 

XIV. 8 328 

XV. 15 328 

X X. 26 297 

1 Samuel. 

i. 3-7 183 

„.ii 324 

vi. 7 .......... 306 

vii. 6 297 

XX. 5, 24 250 

,> 6, 29 250 

2 Samuel. 

i. 10 320 

viii. 18 6] 

XV. 7, 8 324 

I Kings. 

i. 33, 38 3" 

ill. 4 99 

vi. 1-38 173 

viii ..125, 249 

„ 2 ..173, 234 

„ 18 128 

„ 30-52 125 

„ 63 107 

ix. 3 41 

X. 5 20 



1 Kings. 

Page 
XXI. 3 159 

M 27 297 

2 Kings. 

ii. 12 326 

iv. 23 250 

xi. 9 ..•••...., it3 

xvi. 18 ........ 151 

xxii. 46 

xxiii. 21 1S2 

XXV. 18 75 

1 Chronicles. 
ix. 32 156 

,,.33 116 

xviii. 16 61 

xxiii. 5 54 

,, 24-27 .... 70 

„ 30 116 

xxvi. 28-32 .... 64 

2 Chronicles. 

V. 3 234 

» 12 117 

,,13,14 57 

„ 42 117 

vii. 1 248, 294 

„. 8, 9 234 

viii. 13 .... 182, 233 

xiii. 10, II 153 

XX. 3 297 

xxiii. 8 ........ iiS 

xxiv 46 

„ 6-11 ...... 50 

xxix 23 88 

XXX. 15 .... 177, 182 
xxxvi. 21 159 

Ezra. 

ii. 40-42 64 

„ 43-58 i^ 

,,65 It 

iii. 4 ••• 233 

„ 10, II 57 

iv. 3 4* 

vi IQ. ......... 182 

,.,, 19-21 178 

vii. 24 64 

viii. 5, 18, 19.... 64 

« 20 61 

Nehemiah. 

ii. 1 179 

vii. 43, 45 $4 

» 60 64 

,,.67 56 

vni. 1-12 261 

„ 15, 18 237 

X. 1-27 29® 



Index to Scripture References. 



367 



Nrhemiah. 

Page 

«• 3a» 34 50 

», 32 159 

f, 34 ••.. 295 

»». 35 332 

XI. 17 125 

»"• 27-40 57 

xiii. 31 295 

Esther. 

iii. 7 179, 290 

vii. 17-24 290 

ix. 27 290 

Psalms. 

vi 107 

XV 248 

xvi. 5 202 

,.5,6 61 

xxlii. ..•• 202 

xxiv • 143 

xxix 248 

,, 8, etc 257 

XXX. 339 

xxxii. I, 2 81 

xxxiii. 2 54 

„ 15 258 

3di. 126 

xlviii 143 

„ 2, 12, 13.. 4 

1. 6, 7 216 

,, 16, etc 248 

ii. 5 82 

»» 7 309 

>» 17 107 

»? 19 99 

Iiv 107 

Ivi. 12 107 

Ixix 28 . , 258 

Ixxii ••.... 126 

Ixxviii. 38 45 

hudx »^... 18 

, " „6 197 

Ixxx. 8 37 

Ixxxi. 3.-55, 144, 251 

„ 6, etc 248 

Ixxxii 144 

„ . 5, etc 248 

Ixxxiv. 9 81 

ixxxv. I 178 

Ixxxix 126 

xcii 144 

,,...2, 3 "6 

xciii 144 

xciv. 144 

„ 16, etc 248 

cii 299 

civ. 27 163 

cvi. ., 126 

cxiii. ,. 192, 242, 254 

cxiv 192 

Cxv. 3x3, 260 \ 



Psalms. 

Page 

cxvi 260 

„ 13 .... 202 

„ 17, 18 .... 107 

cxvii 260 

cxviii. ..213, 242, 244 

„ 254, 260 

,* I 242 

*» 25 244 

„ 25, 26 . . . 192 

»» 29 243 

cxx 192, 209, 210 

cxx. to cxxxiv. . , 30 

cxxi 299 

cxxii 5, 337 

» 2 338 

„ 2, 3 6 

cxxvii 164 

cxxx 299 

cxxxi.. .,.«,,.,. 257 

cxxxiv 116 

cxxxvi 192 

cxxxvii 210 

cxli. 2 129 

cxiiv. 9 ,,..,... 55 

cxiv. 16 163 

cl 126, 338 

Proverbs. 
XX. 25 324 

ECCLESIASTES. 

vii. 23 309 

Song of Solomon. 
"• 17 4 

Isaiah. 

i. 1 1, etc 79 

,,13 251 

»» 15 125 

„ 18 .... 94, 273, 309 

11-3 2 

V. 8 159 

yiii. 8 178 

ix. I 247 

xii. 3 242, 243 

xiv. 2 178 

XXV. 6-9 233 

XXX. 10 56 

xxxvii. 30 159 

Hi. r3 98 

,, II, 12 iz6 

liii 98 

„ 6 ,.. 284 

>.. 7 123 

Ivui. I 55 

„ 13 .... 145, 161 

1x1. 1-3 159 

Ixii. 4 3 



Isaiah. 

, ... Page 

IXIU. 9 153 

Ixv. 7 320 

Ixvi. 23 251 

Jeremiah. 

xi. 21 37 

XXV. 15 202 

xxiv. 18, 23 .... 298 

^xxi. 6 337 

„ 34 288 

xli. I 298 

li 7... 202 

Iii- 24 75 

Lamentations. 

iii. 66 197 

iv. I 18 

Ezekiel. 
i'.; ••• 159 

y"- 12 159 

IX. 2, etc 262 

„ 4-6 182 

XX. 12. . 145 

xl 288 

xliv. 18 73 

yy 25, etc 304 

xlvi. 1 251 

Daniel. 

X. 5 266 

xii. 6 266 

HOSEA. 

ii. II 251 

iv. 14 331 

«.3 178 

>» 4 304 

Joel, 

f: 7 37 

u. 13 299 

Amos. 

iii. 6 259 

vi:.5 54 

viii. 5 251, 256 

Jonah. 

i- 16 324 

iii. 10 299 

MiCAH. 

vi. 6 79 

X. 2 159 

Zephaniah. 
y xo-xi 13 



Zephaniah. 

Page 
I. 12 188 

Haggai. 

ii. 3 38 

.,7 38 

»» 13 304 

Zechariah. 

iii; 3> 4 266 

vii 297 

viii 297 

.» 19 297 

IX. 16 326 

xiv. 16, 21 234 

>. 20 235 

Malachi. 

ii- 7 58 

in. 8-10 49 

St. Matthew. 

i-.3 38 

VI. 2 • . 29 

ii 10 299 

V ^3 127 

viii. 4 301 

ix. 14 299 

» 23 s6 

X. 9, 10 42 

„ 29 3x6 

xii. 4 153 

» 5 65.85 

xiv. 25 119 

„ 26-32 184 

XV. 5 46 

xvii. 24 47 

XX. 2 49 

» 3 174 

„ 17 188 

xxi. 8, 9 243 

„ 12 25 

,,12, 13 190 

xxiii. 14 47 

„ 19 90 

„ 27 185 

xxiv. 2 22 

„ 20 163 

„. 31 253 

xxvL ^^ 177 

„ 18 ..184 

,. 21-26 .... 208 
„ 26-28 .... 196 

» 30 2T3 

„.. 59-68 .... 44 

xxvii. 45 151 

,,,..51 37 

xxviii. I ........ 147 

» 19 13' 



368 

St. Mark. 

Pagfe 

11. 18 299 

», 27, 28 145 

f, 27 148 

vii. 3 205 

„ II 81 

.»» 11-13 323 

IX. 49 84 

xii. 41 28 

xiii. 35 120 

xiv. I, 12 177 

,, 12-16 184 

„ 17, 18 211 

„ 22 208 

„ 26, 32 184 

.» 33-37 221 

„ 66 12 

XV. 25 174 

»> 34 151 

»., 42 .. 150 

XVI. 2 147 

St. Luke. 

i. 8-10 124 

»> 9 129 

». 10 115 

;, 22 142 

11. 22 302 

„ 22-24 27 

», 24 102 

y, 41, 42 183 

.» 41-49 184 

IV. 29 44 

V. 33 299 

„ 35 266 

vi. I 150 

»;. " 153 

Vll. 12 39 

», 38 201 

X: 35 49 

XI. I 127 

xii. 38 120 

XIV. I 163 

».. 5 147 

XVII. 12 313 

xviii. 12 ... . 147, 167 
„ 12 ... . 298. 299 

xix. 41 I 

*. 44 18 . 

XXI. I 28 

xxii. 1 177 

,, 7-13 t84 

„ II, 12 .... 211 
„ 17 .... 205, 212 

„ 19 208 

„ 20 213 

„.. 39 184 

xxiii. 44 151 

xxiv. 13 143 

icxviii. 12 ...... 167 



Index to Scripture References. 



St. John. 

Page 

11. 13-18 190 

»» 14 25 

M 15 49 

.» 19 293 

ill. 14-15 260 

iv 35 291 

V. I 291 

vi. 4 291 

vii. 20 28 

„ 37 232, 243 

v.. 38 244 

viii. 12 .... 245, 248 

„ 20 28 

.»» 59 44 

IX. '5 245 

X. 22 291, 294 

„ 22, 23 289 

,> 23 23 

».3i 44 

XI. 55 185 

,,,56 166 

xii. 12, 13 242 

xiii. 4, 5 212 

„ 5 205 

„ 10 .... 121, 130 

,, 12-20 212 

„ 23-25 202 

,» 24 211 

„ 25 208 

♦.» 29 194 

XIV. 18 208 

xviii. I 184 

,, I, 2 211 

„ 3-12 219 

„ 15, 16 .... 113 
„ 28.. 186,218,221 

„ 39 188 

xix. 14 .... 174, 188 

>, 23 73 

„ 27 113 

» 31 150 

XX. I 147 

„ 2 113 

M 15 222 

Acts. 

i. x8 219 

ii 226 

„ I 215, 227 

„ 15 115 

,j.47 23 

lii 26 

,, I 116 

iv. I, etc 119 

,,6 113 

vi. 7 58 

vii 67 

„ 57. 58 44 

X. 9 116 



Acts. 

Page 

xu. 12 113 

xviii. 18 330 

XX. 16 227 

xxi. 20-25 331 

„ 23, etc 326 

„,^ 31 10, 25 

xxiii. 5 67 

xxvil. 9 265 

Romans. 

iii. 25 282 

viii. 13 339 

„ 21, 22 164 

.», 23 340 

IX. 16 339 

xi. 16 340 

xvi. 5 339, 340 

1 Corinthians. 
V. 7 ....177, 188, 216 
„ 7, 8 181 

X. 16 209, 213 

„ 16, 17 200 

xi. 24 208, 209 

i, 27 185 

*» 23-29 199 

XV. 20 322 

„ 20-23 — 339,340 
»>. 52 253 

XVI. 8 227 

.» 15 .... 339» 340 

2 Corinthians. 

xi..,24 45 

xiii. 2 117 

xvi. I, 2 158 

Ephesians. 

V. 8 262 

,,14 262 

COLOSSIANS. 

ii. 16, 17.. . . 250, 251 

2 Timothy. 
ii. 15 qo 

Hebrews. 

V. 4 61 

». 7-9 214 

,>..9 146 

vii. 19 264 

» 20 95 

♦, 27 ••• 265 

.viii- 4, 5 79 

ix 281 

„ 2 123 

„ 4 134 



Hebrews.* 

Pagre 

IX. 7 28<' 

„ 7, II, 12 .... 263 

„ 9 28c 

„ II, 12, 26 ... . 288 

„ 13 268 

», 13, 14 308 

„ 15 282 

,, 26 282 

X 281 

,, I 263, 282 

„ 1-24 82 

„ 3 102 

,, 4 80, 264 

,, II 58 

„ II, 12 96 

,,26 . 288 

,, 26, 27 42 

xiii. II, 12 38 

James. 
i. 18 339, 340 

I Peter. 
i. 20 214 

I John. 
ii. 2 214 

Revelation. 

jt.13 73 

"1. 5 71 

,, 20 106 

iv. 8-11 57 

v. 8 .... 52, 129, 138 

.» 9-12 57 

»> 13 57 

VI 13 138 

vii. 2, 3 183 

„ 9, 10 249 

„ 10, 12 57 

viii. I, 3, 4 138 

.»» 2 253 

IX. 4 183 

X. 7 253 

xi. 15 322 

xiii. 8 214 

xiv. 2,3 52 

„ 4 .. 322, 339, 340 

XV. 2 ..... .... 52 

M 3. 4 164 

»,. 6 72, 73 

XVI. 15 112, I2Q 

XX 146 

„ 1, 3, 4, 6. . .. 192 

M 6,7 57 

,,^ 8 72 

xxi. 4, etc 233 

„ 16, 19, 20 . . 73 



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111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township. PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



